Pennsylvania has enacted a number of Underage Drinking laws that include underage DUI charges. Title 18 of the Crimes Code contains laws pertaining to minors that are meant to uphold the Commonwealth’s “zero tolerance” for those under the legal drinking age of 21 who persist in drinking alcoho...

Commercial Driver’s License holders in Pennsylvania are held to very high standards and rules under the law. Truck drivers and school bus drivers are both strictly regulated under the PA Vehicle Code, and truck drivers are also federally regulated. Commercial truck drivers know how involved the ru...

While many counties in Pennsylvania have begun relaxing marijuana laws and penalties for possession, when it comes to driving under the influence of cannabis, drivers should be aware that Pennsylvania will prosecute them for DUI of marijuana, and police are increasingly making weed related DUID arre...

If you are facing a 3rd DUI violation in Pennsylvania, you need to retain the services of a highly qualified criminal defense lawyer immediately. Your future depends on the comprehensive preparation of a solid defense by an attorney specifically trained and experienced in handling driving under the...

Pennsylvania has a 10-year “look back” period for establishing prior DUIs. Along with convictions, a previous ARD for DUI will also count toward prior DUI convictions if completed within the past 10 years.Many first and second DUIs are ungraded misdemeanors. However, in 2012 the PA legislature e...

Being charged with driving under the influence (DUI) for the first time is a very upsetting and frightening experience. Most drivers in Cambria and Allegheny County are law-abiding residents who simply failed to realize that they were too impaired to drive safely. It can happen to anyone. State and...

Fighting a DUI in Allegheny County and elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania requires very specific knowledge, training and experience. A defense attorney should be able to demonstrate with confidence that she/he knows how to beat a DUI based on past cases and experience in drunk driving def...

The best DUI attorneys in Pittsburgh and across the Commonwealth work very hard to get their clients through one of the toughest legal challenges there is: Defending a DUI charge. A client is facing many different high-stress issues almost at once, and in most DUIs, that stress starts when the attor...

Commonwealth v. Barton-Martin: Bringing Pennsylvania Law Into Alignment With The United States Supreme Court Holding In Melendez-Diaz v. MassachusettsA very good friend of mine and fellow attorney, Alicia Genther, had the opportunity to present an oral argument before the Superior Court of Pennsylva...

Why The Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Are UnreliableYou are driving along the highway late at night when you see that a police officer has pulled a car off at the side of the highway. You notice that the car’s driver is standing in between his vehicle and the police cruiser, with one leg lifte...

Well it’s Steeler Sunday and that has me thinking about ticket scalping. On the way to Heinz Field for every home game, I see scalpers everywhere holding their signs telling people that they need tickets. I thought I’d share the rules with you, considering scalping without a license IS a crime.S...

What’s The Purpose Of A Preliminary Hearing, Anyway?If you have been charged with a criminal offense, you will eventually receive a notification in the mail advising you of the time and place of your preliminary hearing. The problem, though, is that you may not understand the purpose of a prelimin...

A History Of The Standardized Field Sobriety Tests(in other words: Stupid Human Tricks)I know…history. Bor-ing! But keep reading and I promise that you will find the history behind the Standardized Field Sobriety Tests to be interesting. And, I guarantee that you will learn something too. For exam...

The following is a description of how a criminal case would proceed through the court system in Pennsylvania:Incident OccursPolice Notified or Police ObservePolice InvestigateInvestigation may include interviewing the victim, witnesses and/or suspects; collecting physical evidence; visiting, viewing...

The Marcellus Shale drilling boom has brought with it the hope for lucrative profits to Pennsylvania landowners and drilling companies alike. Some Pennsylvania landowners have already benefited from this and we will see many, many more benefit in the near future as the gas companies who have already...

You have probably heard the saying, “beer before liquor, never been sicker, liquor before beer, you’re in the clear,” and you may even follow it as a ‘rule of thumb’ when socially consuming alcoholic beverages. And because it is the law in every state in the country, everyone has heard the...

The 1970s was a decade of substantial changes in the law, including the prohibition of involuntarily committing citizens to a psychiatric institution if they were not a danger to themselves or others by the states, the determination that carefully crafted death penalty statutes might be constitution...

Trends these days have ranged from wearing leggings, to using an iPad in the classroom instead of taking notes with a good old fashioned pencil and paper. These days, the trend in education seems to be the completion of some form of graduate school in addition to a college bachelor’s degree. Most...

“I’m GOING TO HOLD YOU IN CONTEMPT!” We hear this phrase thrown around A LOT in family law cases.Civil Contempt occurs when the person willfully disobeys a court order. This is also called indirect contempt because it happens outside the judge’s immediate realm and evidence must be presented...

DON’T TALK– This is so important! You cannot help yourself at this point no matter what you say. Do not try to explain. Do not say you have only had “a couple”. USE YOUR RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. Politely tell the officer that you choose to remain silent and hand them your registration, licens...

Big Win For Attorney Beth Tibbott & Her ClientEbensburg criminal defense attorney Beth Tibbott is celebrating a big victory with her client Edward Merritt. Edward, age 32 at the time, was charged with the shooting death of 21 year old Zachary Andrews in the Moxham section of Johnstown PA. Merrit...

Pennsylvania criminal defense attorney Beth Tibbott is currently defending John Bowman Thornberry who is being held in Cambria County on sexual assault charges. John is a former houseparent at Bishop Carroll High School. He is accused of wrong doing with two students he supervised.Attorney Tibbott s...

The world changed forever on February 4, 2004. That was the day Facebook was launched. At the outset Facebook’s membership was limited to Harvard students, but the phenomenon quickly spread to include memberships from students of other colleges and high schools. By 2006, Facebook expanded its memb...

A lot of people who have been accused of DUI in Pennsylvania wonder why they end up being charged with not one, but two DUI offenses at once. This is because Pennsylvania law allows a driver to be charged with what I will call two “separate” DUI sub-offenses, or “counts.”Each charge can also...

Psychological Evaluations in Custody CasesDo you feel as if you need to protect your child from your child’s mentally unstable mother or father?Are you unsure if you can even do that or how you can show the court that the other parent even IS mentally unstable or unable to care properly for your c...

October is here and families are starting to fall into a routine with school schedules, sports practices, and looking forward to making Halloween costumes. Step foot in any retail outlet and they are already preparing for the holidays with Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations lining the aisles. Wh...

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REFUSE FIELD SOBRIETY TESTSPennsylvania drivers have substantial rights when pulled over by police officers. Many drivers who are pulled over by the police on suspicion of DUI do not realize that they have the right to refuse to participate in field sobriety tests. Police offic...

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. BRAVE EXPLORER OR MODERN DAY CRIMINAL?“In fourteen hundred ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He had three ships and left from Spain. He sailed through sunshine, wind, and rain.” Fast forward 527 years and we continue to observe Columbus Day celebrating Christopher...

Divorce and custody proceedings can be stressful and highly emotional. One of the first questions you may ask yourself is whether or not you should continue to live in the same residence with your soon to be ex-spouse until your divorce is final. No law says that a spouse must immediately move out o...

As your little princesses, superheroes, and dinosaurs are eagerly anticipating that sugar high from their Halloween treats, parents can not help but think of a scenario of some madman filling these sweets with poison, razor blades, and needles. Although there are few cases of candy poisoning, there...

There’s no denying the fact that divorce rates in the United States are quite high. With between forty to fifty percent of all marriages ending in divorce in our country, we all know at least one or two people who have gone through the divorce process. For many couples with kids, the decision to s...

In awarding child custody, Pennsylvania courts determine what is in “the best interest of the child” to make their decision. In the event that parents can not come to an agreeable arrangement for the court to adopt, family law courts will issue its own controlling order to settle the matter. The...

In 1789, President George Washington declared November 26 to be officially recognized “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God.” Since then, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving Day on each fourt...

Monday, January 15 is a day to celebrate the memory of a civil rights hero, his March on Washington, and influential “I Have a Dream” speech. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, a federal holiday that takes place on the third Monday of each January, is a day to honor the activist and minister, assassin...

National Hugging Day was created by Kevin Zaborney and was first celebrated on January 21, 1986 in Clio, Michigan. Zaborney chose January 21st because it falls between the holidays and valentine’s day which is a time when he found people are generally in low spirits.The idea behind National Huggin...

The spring and summer months are full of family vacations and fun with family and friends. Many people also have special celebrations for the spring and summer holidays of Easter, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. Determining where and with whom your children will be spending these specia...

Pennsylvania Criminal and Family Law Blog | Tibbott & RichardsonJune 20th is International Nystagmus Day. Nystagmus is a complex visual impairment, characterized by involuntary eye movements, affecting focus and depth perception. In the context of Driving Under the Influence cases, the presence...

National Get Out of the Doghouse Day is celebrated every year on the third Monday in July. The idiom “in the doghouse, ”alludes to a dog being punished for bad behavior by being banished to its outdoor kennel rather than being allowed to stay inside. Usually, someone is in the doghouse for somet...

The third Sunday in June is dedicated to celebrating and honoring the men who have embraced the essential role of fatherhood. This is a day to give thanks to fathers for the sacrifices they make, the responsibility they undertake in raising children, and for their devotion to their family.The Histor...

Each year on July 11th, people across the United States celebrate National Cheer Up the Lonely Day by making a special effort to contact those people in their lives who need a little extra love and attention. Everyone experiences difficult times and loneliness. Whether these feels are due to health...