Defense Files Suppression Motion

WEST CHESTER — A former volunteer firefighter facing arson charges in connection with fires set in Sadsbury last summer wants a statement he made to the police thrown out because he said he was intoxicated at the time.

He also claimed at a suppression hearing Wednesday that state troopers questioning him that day improperly made promises to him.

Troopers testifying at the hearing said they did not make any promises to him and that while the suspect had been drinking he was not intoxicated.

The Defendant, a former Pomeroy Fire Company volunteer, was arrested Aug. 22, 2008, and charged with arson and related offenses.

On Wednesday, Defendant was in court with his attorney, Steve Jarmon, for a hearing on a motion to suppress his confession.

Trooper John J. Clifford, of the Pennsylvania State Police Embreeville Barracks, said Defendant was picked up Aug. 22 at a saloon in Sadsbury Township. Clifford said there was a smell of alcohol on him but he was not intoxicated. Defendant was taken to the Coatesville Police Department and given his Miranda rights, a statement that he has the right to remain silent and that anything he might say could be used against him in a court of law and that he has the right to an attorney.

At some point during the questioning, Defendant said he wanted an attorney and the questioning stopped. Shortly thereafter he was placed under arrest and transported to the Embreeville State Police barracks. On the way to the barracks, Clifford and another trooper said Defendant said, “OK, you’ve got me. I put the device there.”

Defendant allegedly used a homemade fire-starting device, matches taped to a cigarette, at the scene of an attempted arson Aug. 8 on the porch of a house in the first block of Helen Street.

Clifford said he told Defendant that whatever additional statement he wished to make would have to be given when he got to the station and the recording equipment was set up.

Clifford said when they arrived at the station, Defendant was read his Miranda rights again and the interview was recorded.

But when Defendant took the stand he said he had drunk 15 beers the day the police picked him up. He said that when he got in the police car after being questioned in Coatesville and told them that he wanted to talk to his lawyer, the troopers told him “if he cooperated, it would be a lot easier on him.’

“I said, ‘I’ll cooperate if you guarantee me a lighter sentence,’” Defendant said.

The defense’s claim is the confession should be suppressed because Defendant was too drunk to knowingly waive his rights when he was read the Miranda warnings. The confession should also be suppressed because the troopers were not allowed to speak to him about the case once he said he wanted an attorney and the troopers were not allowed to make promises.

Under the law, once a suspect says he wishes to speak to an attorney, police can no longer question him unless the suspect on his own reinitiates the conversation. Police can also not make promises, said Assistant District Attorney Carlos Barraza.

Barraza questioned Defendant and said that if he was so heavily intoxicated that he was slurring his speech and had glassy eyes, Judge Thomas Gavin would see that on the videotaped statements.

Barrazza said it was more likely that Defendant was scared when the troopers told him that they were searching his house and they had found DNA evidence at the Helen Street arson scene. And that was why in the car he had confessed to the troopers.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Gavin took the two taped interviews and said he would look at them and make a decision.

Last summer, Coatesville and surrounding areas were in the grip of a wave of arsons that at its peak would include more than 70 arsons since early 2008. At that time the Pennsylania State Police were investigating the arsons. It wasn’t until January 2009 that the Chester County Arson Task Force was formed. Several men, including former Coatesville firefighter Robert Tracey Jr., are in custody and are suspects in connection with some of the Coatesville fires.

Ciccarelli Lawyers fight for their clients and our experienced had recognizing civil rights infractions and police abuse that can be subject to suppression motion or writ of habeas corpus.  Speak to a criminal defense attorney who can confidentially discuss your case and the best way to fight the case to  get the results you need.  Contact us today at (610) 925-2500

Pottstown Teen Injured in Upper Uwchlan Crash

A 17-year-old male juvenile from Pottstown was injured during a crash Wednesday morning that occurred on Greenridge Road just north of Buck Drive, according to police.

The juvenile driver swerved to avoid a deer, went into an embankment and hit a tree, according to Upper Uwchlan Police Chief John DeMarco. The driver was the only person in the Toyota Land Cruiser at the time of the crash.

The driver was flown in a medical helicopter to Reading Hospital for treatment of injuries. An update on his medical status was not immediately available Wednesday afternoon.

The Upper Uwchlan Police Department was assisted by West Vincent police, Uwchlan ambulance and medic personnel and Ludwigs Corner Fire Company.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers. Ciccarelli Lawyers represent injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including suburban Philadelphia, West Chester and Chester County PA.  Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

Warrant Quashed On Jogging Bandit Case

WEST CHESTER — He was known as The Jogging Bandit to state police investigators who chased him for months in southern Chester County and northern Delaware in the early 1980s, and he had an odd connection with the infamous Johnston Brothers Gang.

But now, Walter Guyer just wants to be left alone and to get the disability payments he says he needs to survive.

Guyer, 61, of Wilmington, has a date later this month in Common Pleas Court to ask a judge to end the probation he was sentenced to in 1985 but to which he apparently never submitted. He said the Veterans Administration has stopped sending him his monthly disability checks because of a warrant issued for his arrest in 2003.

“It is imperative that his case be closed out and the warrant be dismissed so that he can regain his disability benefit and be able to move on with his life,” wrote his attorney, Steve E. Jarmon of the Ciccarelli Lawyers firm, in a motion filed last month asking the court to terminate the probation.

Guyer’s situation brought back memories for a state police trooper who arrested him in 1981 as well as for one of his victims. Both expressed some ambivalence about his request.

“We never got the restitution that we were supposed to,” said a woman whose home near Route 52 Guyer broke into and stole thousands of dollars worth of gold and silver. “But I don’t know if that’s worth keeping a man on probation this long.”

“It seems to me that his claim might have some legitimacy,” said Thomas Cloud, the former trooper who encountered Guyer almost 30 years ago.

Now a West Chester private investigator, Cloud wondered why someone couldn’t have simply contacted Guyer before seeking a warrant. Guyer has been living openly in his native Delaware without any apparent criminal activity since his release from a Pennsylvania state prison more than a decade ago.

Guyer’s attorney declined to comment on the case or on his client’s condition. But in his petition, Steve E. Jarmon says Guyer is fully disabled and has had no source of income besides disability checks after his 1998 release.

According to court records and an interview last week with Cloud, Guyer was involved in a series of burglaries in the early 1980s in the New Castle County, Del., and Chadds Ford areas

At that time, state police, the FBI and Chester County Detectives had broken the so-called Johnston Brothers Gang. The gang had robbed homes and businesses in the four-state region and eventually murdered some of their associates in the so-called Kiddie Gang. Murder trials for gang leader Bruce Johnston Sr. and his brothers, Norman and David, were held in 1981, with all three found guilty of multiple killings.

“Here it was right after the Johnston trials and we were getting clobbered with burglaries, even high-end burglaries,” said Cloud.

The break-ins took place in Hamorton, Longwood, Mendenhall, and along the Route 100 and Route 52 corridors in northern Delaware, the heart of the Brandywine Valley — “All very nice parts of our area,” said Cloud.

State police in Avondale worked closely with New Castle County police, doing roving patrols to catch a burglar in the act. Cloud said investigators nicknamed the suspect The Jogging Bandit because someone wearing jogging clothes or a tracksuit had been seen near one of the break-ins.

“We just assumed the burglar was posing as a jogger” to check out targets or deflect suspicion. “Whether it was true or not, I don’t know,” Cloud said.

As many as 15 burglaries in Chester County were tied to the same suspect. In late 1981, New Castle County police got a tip that led them to Guyer. With a search warrant for his home, police discovered a treasure trove of stolen goods, Cloud said.

“I remember the first time I went down and saw all the property they recovered; it was breathtaking,” Cloud said. “There was so much stuff. I don’t think he ever got rid of most of the stuff he stole.”

One item that caught Cloud’s attention was a Sony television taken from a home in Mendenhall. Cloud said the same television Guyer had stolen was also pilfered years earlier by someone in the Johnston Gang and returned to its owners.

Cloud said police recovered a great deal of what had been stolen and returned the property to the rightful owners. “A tremendous amount was identified,” he said.

Guyer eventually cooperated with authorities, and Cloud convinced him to take a ride past some of the homes that had been burglarized that summer. In particular, Guyer pointed out three homes as his targets: one on Hillendale Road in Kennett, where he took gold jewelry, antique watches and silver coins valued at $15,000; another on Sapling Drive in Pennsbury, where he took a sterling silver antique place setting, an antique pistol and jewelry worth $7,000; and a home on Honey Tree Lane in Pennsbury, where he stole sterling silver pitchers, spoons, knives and gold jewelry worth $33,000.

The victim interviewed last week said she has not forgotten the break-in or what she and her husband lost.

“It did impact us quite a bit,” she said. “I haven’t thought about the burglary for so long, but we didn’t get back all that he stole. A few pieces. But I miss some of them because I’m very sentimental.”

The burglary spree also involved a break-in at the Delaware home of Ruly Carpenter, then-owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, she recalled.

Guyer was charged with 10 Pennsylvania burglaries in December 1981. At some point he became a fugitive and was not locked up until June 1983.

After a non-jury trial, Judge Robert S. Gawthrop III sentenced him to 3½ to 15 years in state prison and imposed a 20-year probation term that was to run concurrently with the prison time.

Guyer “maxed out” his sentence, serving the full term instead of being paroled. And when Guyer was eventually released to Delaware in 1998, “he was never told that he had to report back to Pennsylvania to finish out his remaining five years of probation,” his lawyer, Jarmon, wrote in his motion.

In October 2003, Common Pleas Judge Juan Sanchez signed a bench warrant at the request of the county Adult Probation Office against Guyer for failure to report after his release. But until this year, he did not know he was wanted on the arrest warrant.

According to Jarmon, Guyer was contacted by the U.S. Veterans Administration, which told him that because of the warrant for his arrest and an apparently open case against him, the disability checks he had been receiving would cease. This “caused a great hardship on him and his family,” Jarmon wrote.

Jarmon said his client has lived in Delaware since his release and free of criminal convictions.

A hearing is set for Oct. 28 before Judge David S. Bortner. First Assistant District Attorney Patrick Carmody on Thursday said he had not seen Jarmon’s petition and did not know if his office would oppose the request to terminate the probation.  Courtesy of Daily Local.

UPDATE:  Ciccareli Lawyers has successfull quashed the warrant and the Judge has relisted this matter to make a final determination on the Petition to End his Probation.

Ciccarelli lawyers are experienced in fighting for peoples rights in Criminal Defense, Probation, Parole, Probation Violation and Parole Violation Matters.  Contact one of our experienced criminal attorneys at (610) 925-2500.

Cracked curb leads to hip fracture, $600k Philadelphia verdict

Philadelphia, PA: A man in his 60s who fractured his hip in a curb at a condominium complex in Holland, PA, has been awarded $600,000 in settlement of his personal injury lawsuit.

Jerry Gubin was helping his son move when his foot became caught in the curb, causing him to fall and sustain injuries. Consequently, he was unable to work or four months.

Expert witnesses called to testify at the trial said that the parking lot where this happened only had about 0.10 foot candles of illumination, whereas parking lots are required to have 0.60 foot candles of illumination. The lack of illumination would have contributed to the likelihood of an accident occurring.  (courtesy Philadelphia Inquirer)
Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

Cyclist Awarded $722,800 for Injury Resulting from Alleged Bicycle Defect

San Francisco, CA: A cyclist who was injured while riding his bike has been awarded $722,800 in damages.

Kenneth Mercurio alleged that he crashed while riding his bike because the front fork on the bicycle broke. He was riding with about 100 other cyclists in Simi Valley, when the front fork, made of carbon fiber, snapped, which resulted in his falling and sustaining severe fractures. He was 58 years old at the time of the accident.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Ciccarelli Lawyers represent injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including suburban Philadelphia, West Chester and Chester County PA.  Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Reaches Tentative $9 Million Settlement

New York, NY: A $9.3 million settlement of an overtime pay class action lawsuit against BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc has been reached.

The settlement, which is subject to Court approval, is intended to resolve claims that BJ’s misclassified certain Mid Manager employees as exempt from receiving overtime for hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. Plaintiffs claim that they were misclassified because their primary responsibilities included hourly duties such as loading and unloading materials, stocking shelves and other activities which are not exempt under federal and state overtime laws. Under the settlement, approximately 1,500 current and former Mid Managers employed by BJ’s since November 2007 will be entitled to make claims to share in the recovery, based on the number of weeks they were employed by the company.

Further details will be included in the notice that is expected to be sent to all class members after the New Year following Court review and approval.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

Record settlement awarded in Philadelphia Injury Claim

Record settlement awarded to man who lost both legs on the job  by Kurt Niland

A 50-year-old Pennsylvania man, described by the Philadelphia Daily News as a “Softhearted ex-Marine” and father of two, recently settled a negligence lawsuit mid-trial against his employer and Caterpillar, Inc., the manufacturer of industrial construction equipment, for $16.25 million. Scott Skirpan of Easton, Penn., lost both of his legs at the Northampton County landfill in a grisly accident in May 2006. Skirpan’s injuries were so horrific that he died twice before being resuscitated.

Skirpan was working his fifth day at a landfill owned by Chrin Brothers, Inc. when a bulldozer operated by another employee backed around a heap of garbage and ran over him.

Skirpan told the Philadelphia Daily News that he figured the bulldozer operator knew what he was doing.

“I was standing there getting ready to back in a truck, and all of a sudden I turned around and this CAT is right on my tail. It was right there, and I couldn’t jump or move or anything. It just plowed me over and sucked me under,” he told the Daily News.

But the operator didn’t know what he was doing. Skirpan’s attorney argued that the landfill owners didn’t provide adequate training and that the Caterpillar track loader lacked sufficient rear vision.

With his legs crushed and severed and blood pouring from the main arteries in his legs, Skirpan needed immediate help but none of his coworkers offered him assistance. Clinging to consciousness, Skirpan called 911 himself. He remained on the phone for 12 minutes, first begging for help, then begging the operator to tell his daughter that he loved her.

Emergency workers airlifted Skirpan to St. Luke’s Hospital Trauma Center, where he arrived in cardiac arrest. Doctors that treated Skirpan weren’t optimistic about his chances and told Carol, his wife, that he would likely die.

If he did pull through, he’d probably be brain damaged because he was clinically dead when emergency workers performed CPR on him, Skirpan’s doctors said.

Skirpan survived the ordeal, but the fight was far from over. Because garbage had been ground into the open wounds of his legs at the time of the accident, Skirpan developed painful, life-threatening infections. In a series of 11 surgeries, surgeons removed Skirpan’s right leg and part of his right hip and most of his left leg.

Back at home, Skirpan is trying to adjust to life without his legs, exercising and rehabbing frequently throughout the day. One of the first things he plans to do with his settlement, he told the Daily News, is buy a new single-level home that’s handicapped friendly.  Skirpan’s settlement is one of the largest single-victim personal-injury settlements in Pennsylvania history.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Ciccarelli Lawyers represent injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including suburban Philadelphia, West Chester and Chester County PA.  Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

Automobile Fatality outside of Harrisburg PA

Mechanicsburg, PA: (May-15-08) The estate of Carol L. Hoy brought a personal injury lawsuit against Van C. Baker, 19, of Warrenton, VA, after a crash that resulted in the death of the Mechanicsburg woman. Records of the traffic accident reveal that Carol Hoy, 57, was a passenger in a minivan driven by her husband, George, when it was hit broadside by a car in Manassas, VA, on June 10, 2006. The accident killed Carol, leaving George Hoy and Carol Hoy’s 79-year-old aunt, Nellie Dorn, injured. The suit showed that Carol Hoy was a school aide in the Mechanicsburg district for 13 years. A scholarship fund was created in her honor through the Mechanicsburg Area Foundation, following her death.

The car that caused the accident was driven by Baker, who was charged with involuntary manslaughter, following police reports that showed that he had been speeding and had run a red light. As part of a settlement reached with the insurance carriers for Hoy and Baker, a proposed $400,000 deal was made with the estate of Carol L. Hoy. Under the terms of the tentative deal, Baker’s insurer, Nationwide, will pay $300,000 and $100,000 will come from the Hoys’ insurer, Erie Insurance.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your personal injury claim by contacting the trusted, experienced personal injury lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Ciccarelli Lawyers represent injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including suburban Philadelphia, West Chester and Chester County PA.  Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.

Pregnancy Discrimination Charges brought in Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA: (May-21-08) The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought charges against NutriSystem Inc., alleging that it wrongfully terminated a woman employee, discriminating against her because she was pregnant. The federal agency brought the charges on behalf of Robyn Linenberg, who was fired in November 2006, three weeks after she informed the company she was pregnant and only one month after she was placed in a leadership training program. Company records show that Linenberg began working for NutriSystem Inc., a Horsham, PA, weight-loss company, as a temporary recruiter in its human resources department in 2005. She was made a full-time employee later that year.

As part of a settlement reached in the case, the company agreed to pay Robyn Linenberg $82,500 to resolve the wrongful termination and pregnancy discrimination claims. Additionally, NutriSystem is required to draft a policy prohibiting pregnancy discrimination; establish a procedure for employees to complain about violations of the pregnancy discrimination policy; provide annual anti-discrimination training to supervisors and managers, under the terms of the settlement agreement.

Learn more about getting a fair financial settlement on your employment discrimination claim by contacting the trusted, experienced employment lawyers at Ciccarelli Lawyers.   Ciccarelli Lawyers represent injured clients throughout Pennsylvania including suburban Philadelphia, West Chester and Chester County PA.  Contact us toll free at (877) 529-2422.