Vol. LVII Allentown, PA Friday, October 21, 2016 No. 17

68 Pages·2016·6.95 MB·English

Vol. LVII Allentown, PA Friday, October 21, 2016 No. 17
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THE COURT
The Hon. Edward D. Reibman, President Judge
The Hon. Carol K. McGinley, Judge
The Hon. Robert L. Steinberg, Judge
The Hon. J. Brian Johnson, Judge
The Hon. Kelly L. Banach, Judge
The Hon. James T. Anthony, Judge
The Hon. Maria L. Dantos, Judge
The Hon. Michele A. Varricchio, Judge
The Hon. Douglas G. Reichley, Judge
The Hon. Daniel K. McCarthy, Judge
The Hon. Alan M. Black, Senior Judge
LEHIGH LAW JOURNAL
(USPS 309560)
Owned and Published by
THE BAR ASSOCIATION OF LEHIGH COUNTY
1114 Walnut Street, Allentown, PA 18102
www.lehighbar.org
HON. WILLIAM H. PLATT, President
PATRICK J. REILLY, President-Elect
MICHELLE M. FORSELL, Vice President
JAMES J. KOzUCH, Secretary
SARAH M. JOLLY, Treasurer
SUSAN G. MAURER, Historian
THOMAS F. TRAUD, JR., Law Journal Committee
RAY BRIDGEMAN, Executive Director
GRAIG M. SCHULTz, Case Editor
Copyright © 2016 Bar Association of Lehigh County
The Lehigh Law Journal is published every Friday. All legal notices must be
submitted in typewritten form and are published exactly as submitted by the
advertiser. Neither the Law Journal nor the printer will assume any respon-
sibility to edit, make spelling corrections, eliminate errors in grammar or make
any changes in content.
The Law Journal makes no representation as to the quality of services offered by
any advertiser in this publication.
Legal notices must be received at 1114 W. Walnut St., Allentown, PA 18102,
before 12 noon the preceding Tuesday. Telephone [phone]. Advance
issues $100.00 per year. Single copies $2.00. Payment of annual dues to the
Bar As sociation of Lehigh County includes year’s subscription to Lehigh Law
Journal.
Printed at 206 S. Keystone Ave., Sayre PA 18840
Periodical postage paid at Allentown, PA 18102 and
at additional mailing offices.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to The Lehigh Law
Journal, 1114 W. Walnut St., Allentown, PA 18102.
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Sherry
Clewell
 Photography




A night of crawling in downtown Allentown ~ grab your friends and
co-workers for a fun night of networking and mingling
$10 cover charge – drink and/or appetizers at each stop

Register at www.naifalv.org before the event and be entered

into the Renaissance Weekend for 2 Raffle Prize

Registration @ The Dime ~ 5pm to 5:30pm
Restaurants include: The Dime, Roar, Centro,
Bell Hall, The Hamilton, Queen City BBQ

Stop in to see our business sponsor and stamp your passport for a
chance to win great door prizes at the end of the night including:

Dinner for 2 at Centro
Floral Arrangement by Ruby’s Floral Factory
Wine Basket by YLD
Basket from Azani Medical Spa
Beer Basket by YLD
Dinner for 2 at The Dime

Raffle tickets available for a weekend at the Renaissance $5/tix

Head back to The Dime at 8:00pm for some appetizers, Nyemscek Team
door prize giveaways, raffle winner and more fun.

National Association of Young Lawyer Division
Insurance & Finc Advisors Bar Assn of Lehigh County

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(cid:31) Appraisal Review including Forensic Review
(cid:31) Expert Witnessand Rebuttal Testimony
(cid:31) Litigation Support
(cid:31) Consulting
(cid:31) 35 years Appraisal experience with all types of commercial
and industrial real estate to include shopping malls,
apartment complexes, subdivisions, development land
and manufacturing facilities.
(cid:31) 30 years Expert Witness Testimony with over 150appearances
including EminentDomain, Tax Assessment Appeal and
partial interests. Recognized as an expert in all types of tribunals
toinclude Federal District Courts.
DOUGLAS A. HARING, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS
2120HampdenBoulevard,Reading,PA 610.921.2711
[email protected]
The BALC Facebook page is
updated regularly with meeting reminders and event
notices, and includes photo albums, discussion
boards, links, and much more. “Like” us at
www.facebook.com/BarAssociationLehighCounty
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Position AvAilAble
KingSpry is a progressive, expanding regional law firm
seeking a dynamic, professional administrative assistant to
work in our Marketing and Education departments. The
ideal candidate must be proficient in Microsoft Word, Out-
look, PowerPoint and Excel, some experience with Quick-
Books, Adobe Creative Suite and web/social media platforms
is beneficial; must possess excellent interpersonal, organiza-
tional, communication and phone skills; must be a self-
starter, creative thinker, and able to juggle multiple projects
and deadlines involving a wide variety of challenging and
passionate personalities. Prior law firm experience preferred.
Position provides support to Marketing Director, inter-
acting with clients/prospects on phone, in writing and in
person, maintaining calendars for programming, sponsorships
and volunteer events, maintaining databases, proofreading
print and web publications, managing administrative and
accounting tasks for affiliated training facility, and other du-
ties as assigned, as well as administrative support to one at-
torney, creating/transcribing documents, client contact,
scheduling appointments/maintaining calendars, creating and
maintaining files, etc.
Qualified applicants should submit cover letter with salary
requirements, resume, and references. Full benefit package
provided. Please note that resumes that do not include all of
the elements described above may not be considered. Re-
sumes can be sent to [email protected].
10-21, 28
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Commonwealth vs. Cruz 157
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
vs. ALEXIS CRUZ, DEFENDANT
Parolee—Expectation of Privacy—Reasonable Suspicion—
Warrantless Search of Residence.
As a parolee, the Court determined that the Defendant had a diminished expecta-
tion of privacy, as the Fourth Amendment protections afforded to a parolee are more
limited than those afforded to the average citizen. After examining the totality of the cir-
cumstances, the Court determined that the warrantless search of the Defendant’s residence
was proper, in that the state parole agents had reasonable suspicion that the Defendant
committed a parole violation. Accordingly, the Court denied the Defendant’s Motion to
Suppress.
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, Pennsyl-
vania—Criminal Division. No. 2093/2016. Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania vs. Alexis Cruz, Defendant.
GreGory r. enGlert, AssistAnt District Attorney, on behalf
of the Commonwealth.
AlexAnDrA Kilvert French, Public DeFenDer, on behalf
of the Defendant.
bAnAch, J., October 10, 2016. The Defendant has been
charged with one count of Possession with Intent to Manufacture
or Deliver a Controlled Substance (35 P.S. §780-113(A)(30)), one
count of Persons not to Possess, Use, Manufacture, Control, Sell or
Transfer Firearms (18 Pa. C.S.A. §6105), one count of Possession
of a Controlled Substance (35 P.S. §780-113(A)(16)), and one count
of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia (35 P.S. §780-113(A)(32)). On
July 27, 2016, counsel for the Defendant filed an Omnibus Pre-
trial Motion, which included a Motion to Suppress the evidence
seized during a search of the Defendant’s residence. A Hearing
was held on September 1, 2016, wherein the Commonwealth
presented testimony of State Parole Agent Joshua Knepp. Counsel
for the Defendant and for the Commonwealth submitted Briefs
for the Court’s consideration of the Motion to Suppress and this
Order and Opinion follow.
SUMMARY OF THE FACTS
State Parole Agent Joshua Knepp began supervising the
Defendant on state parole in 2013. Review of the records from
2013 indicates that in March of 2013, the Defendant was paroled
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Lehigh 7-17 op
158 Commonwealth vs. Cruz
to a residence in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. While
under supervision, the Defendant did poorly. In fact, the Defendant
was rearrested by members of the Allentown Police Department
for various drug charges. Ultimately, that case was dismissed, but
the Defendant’s supervision was violated for technical violations.
He reentered the state prison system and was again reparoled to
Wernersville Community Corrections Center. Again, his parole
supervision while at Wernersville was poor and the Defendant was
sent to the Allentown Community Corrections Center. In July
2014, the Defendant absconded from the Allentown CCC and was
again rearrested. He was sent back to state prison, but was reparoled
in September 2015 to 445 West Linden Street, Apartment 2B,
Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
Again, the Defendant’s supervision while under state parole
was subpar. While he did maintain some employment, he did not
maintain consistent employment. On November 15, 2015, the
Defendant was again arrested for possession of marijuana and pled
guilty before the Magisterial District Judge. As a consequence,
State Parole Agent Knepp placed the Defendant on GPS monitor-
ing on November 19, 2015. Over the course of his GPS monitoring,
agents determined that the Defendant violated the terms of the
GPS monitoring program over 60 times, with at least 20 of those
violations for legitimate violations such as curfew violations, failure
to charge the GPS unit, and being outside of the GPS boundary
imposed by state parole.
The Defendant was given urinalysis screens and was positive
for THC on November 19, 2015, December 16, 2015, and March
7, 2016.
Agent Knepp reviewed the GPS violations and determined
that many of these violations would occur when the Defendant
would leave his residence, travel a few blocks for 2 to 3 minutes,
return to his home for approximately 5 minutes, and then leave his
home again for 10 to 15 minutes. The Defendant appeared to
visit 3 to 5 different locations.
On or about April 18, 2016, Agent Knepp performed a home
check on the Defendant and his residence. That evening, he found
the Defendant and two females in the apartment. Agent Knepp
observed a large amount of folded cash money on the window sill.
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Lehigh 7-17 op