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Criminal Defense Lawyer in Central Pennsylvania
Jameson Stone Law defends people facing criminal charges across Central Pennsylvania. Ethan Stone leads the criminal work, in the county courts where these cases are actually heard. The first real opportunity to have charges dismissed or reduced arrives within weeks of an arrest, and it is easy to lose without knowing it was there.
The Preliminary Hearing
The First Real Chance to End It
In most Pennsylvania misdemeanor and felony cases the first evidentiary hearing is the preliminary hearing, held before a magisterial district judge in the district where the offense is alleged to have happened. The rule sets it no later than fourteen days after preliminary arraignment if you are in custody on that case, and no later than twenty-one days if you are not. Where someone in custody is not given a hearing inside fourteen days, the remedy is release until it happens. The Commonwealth does not have to prove guilt there. It has to establish a prima facie case, meaning enough evidence that a crime was committed and that you probably committed it.
That is a low bar, and it is still a bar. Where the Commonwealth fails to meet it on a particular count, the judge must dismiss that count, so charges can come out of a case one at a time. Your attorney has an absolute right to be present, to examine the evidence, and to cross-examine the Commonwealth’s witnesses. What happens at that hearing shapes bail, discovery, what the district attorney is willing to offer later, and whether a diversionary program is on the table at all. Waiving it without understanding what is being given up is one of the more expensive decisions available in a criminal case.
Grading
The Grade Decides Your Exposure
Every Pennsylvania charge carries a grade, and the grade sets the maximum you are facing before a single fact has been argued. It is also one of the main things worth negotiating, because moving a charge down a grade can cut the exposure by more than half.
- Summary offenses — up to 90 days, and many carry a fine only
- Misdemeanors — up to one year at third degree, two years at second, and five years at first
- Felonies — up to seven years at third degree, ten at second, and twenty at first, with certain drug felonies ungraded and capable of running higher
Your Defense
Where Cases Are Actually Won
Once a case is held for court the district attorney files a criminal information, and at formal arraignment the clock starts on pretrial motions. Those have to be filed within thirty days of the arraignment date, and that is the window for challenging how evidence was obtained, whether a search was lawful, and whether statements were taken properly. Suppress the right piece of evidence and what the Commonwealth has left may not support the charge at all.
Most cases never reach a jury. They resolve on what the grading is reduced to, what the sentencing exposure looks like once the offense gravity score and prior record score are worked out, and whether a diversionary program is available. Which of those routes is worth taking depends on the charges, the evidence, and your record, and it is a decision to make with the whole picture in front of you rather than at a first appearance.
Charges We Defend
Criminal Defense Services We Provide
Drug Charges
Possession, possession with intent to deliver, and distribution, where the substance and the quantity decide the grading.
Theft and Property Crimes
Retail theft, theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, burglary, and criminal mischief.
Assault Charges
Simple assault, aggravated assault, harassment, and terroristic threats, including charges arising from domestic incidents.
Probation Violations
Detainer and violation hearings, where the exposure is the balance of a sentence already imposed.
Our Process
How We Build Your Defense
01
Get Ahead of the Hearing
The preliminary hearing arrives fast. We read the complaint and the affidavit, work out what the Commonwealth actually has, and decide whether to contest it or make use of it.
Test the Evidence
Police reports, body and dash footage, search paperwork, witness statements, and lab work, examined for the weaknesses that support a suppression motion.
Negotiate or Try It
A reduction in grading, a diversionary program, or trial. We tell you which one your case actually supports rather than which one sounds best.
Frequently Asked Questions
The paperwork you were handed answers more than it looks like it does. The complaint names the charges and their grading, and the grading sets your maximum exposure before a single fact has been argued.
What should I do after an arrest?
Stop talking about it. Not to the police, not to the people involved, and not on your phone, because text messages and social media posts turn up in discovery routinely. You are not obliged to explain yourself, and the explanation almost never helps. Past that, write down what happened while you still recall it clearly, including who was present and what was said, and keep every piece of paper you were handed, particularly the criminal complaint and any notice of a court date.
Then find out when your preliminary hearing is, because that date is sooner than most people expect and it is the first point at which anything can actually be done.
Can charges be reduced or dismissed?
Frequently, and by more than one route. At the preliminary hearing a magisterial district judge must dismiss any count the Commonwealth cannot support with a prima facie case, and that is decided count by count rather than all or nothing. Once a case is held for court, a successful suppression motion can remove evidence the charge depends on.
Grading can be negotiated down, which matters because the grade sets your maximum exposure. And for some first offenses, county diversionary programs are available that end without a conviction. Which of those is realistic depends on the charges and your record, and any lawyer promising a particular outcome before reading the file is guessing.
What penalties could I face?
The grading sets the ceiling. A summary offense carries up to ninety days, a third-degree misdemeanor up to a year, second-degree up to two years, and first-degree up to five. Third-degree felonies run to seven years, second-degree to ten, and first-degree to twenty, while certain drug felonies are ungraded with maximums set by the substance and quantity instead.
Those are maximums rather than likely outcomes. What actually gets imposed comes out of Pennsylvania’s sentencing guidelines, which weigh the offense gravity score against your prior record score, and probation is available in place of incarceration where no mandatory minimum applies. Two other things are worth knowing. A sentence with a maximum of two years or less is generally served in county jail rather than state prison, and a felony conviction carries consequences beyond the sentence, including restrictions on firearms.
Find Out When Your Hearing Is
The preliminary hearing is usually the first place anything can be done, and it comes around quickly. Ethan Stone leads the firm’s criminal work, and the first conversation costs nothing.