Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Decisions 2024

Justia Opinion Summary: A law firm, Kleinbard LLC, provided legal services to the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office, led by then-District Attorney Craig Stedman, to challenge the county commissioners over the use of certain forfeiture…

Justia Opinion Summary: Derek Murchison was convicted of first-degree murder for the strangulation of Linda Willis on October 5, 2001, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Murchison later sought post-conviction DNA testing of items…

Justia Opinion Summary: Prospect Crozer, LLC owned and developed 57.7 acres of real property in Upland Borough, Delaware County, assessed at $80,166,493 for tax years 2017-2019. Prospect appealed the assessment, but the Delaware County Board of…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a group of appellants, including individual citizens, CeaseFirePA, and the City of Philadelphia, who challenged two Pennsylvania statutes that prevent local governments from enacting their own firearms…

Justia Opinion Summary: On November 18, 2020, Officer Matthew Ibbotson and his partner stopped a silver Honda with heavily tinted windows in a high-crime area of Philadelphia for traffic violations. The driver, Omar Saunders, made suspicious…

Justia Opinion Summary: Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. (Alcatel) challenged the constitutionality of Pennsylvania's 2014 cap on net-loss carryover (NLC) deductions for corporate net income (CNI) tax. The cap allowed corporations to carry forward net…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves a petition challenging the public release of a grand jury report by the 30th County Investigating Grand Jury. The petitioner argued that the report did not meet the statutory definition of an…

Justia Opinion Summary: In 2016, voters in Donegal Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, decided to increase the number of members on the township’s board of supervisors from three to five. Subsequently, in 2020, the voters opted to reduce…

Justia Opinion Summary: Michael Jones was convicted of attempted murder and related charges after an incident where he and his codefendants, Syheed Wilson and Keirsten Carroll, were involved in a shooting of a cab driver, Alex Destin. Jones…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Jason Andrew Lear, who faced criminal charges for theft and assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The charges were filed in May, June, and July 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Montgomery…

Justia Opinion Summary: Lisa Smith, the appellant, lived with her boyfriend, Keiff King, and her four-year-old son, Tahjir, in a home in Abington Township, Pennsylvania. On January 22, 2018, after Tahjir spilled cereal, he was subjected to…

Justia Opinion Summary: The case involves Michael L. Strunk, who was convicted of multiple sexual offenses against a minor, including unlawful contact with a minor. The victim testified that Strunk assaulted her on three separate occasions,…

Justia Opinion Summary: Two electors, Faith Genser and Frank Matis, submitted mail-in ballots for the 2024 Primary Election without the required Secrecy Envelopes. The Butler County Board of Elections identified the defect and notified the…