Manchester and Associates

Pennsylvania Criminal & DUI Defense

Criminal Defense

Posted: In Criminal Defense, Drugs

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Acquiring A Controlled Substance By Fraud In Pennsylvania

Have you or someone you know been charged with Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Fraud in Pennsylvania? The charge of Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Fraud in Pennsylvania can have very serious consequences that can include up to fifteen years in prison and thousands in fines. At minimum you face up to one year in jail.

In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to use a fake or forged prescription to obtain, or try to obtain prescriptions from a pharmacy. The acquisition or obtaining of possession of a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge is the crime under the drug statutes. The severity of the offense is determined by the prescription drug that was obtained depending on the drugs schedule level determined by the Department of Health.

Schedule I or II which is a narcotic drug, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years, or to pay a fine not exceeding two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), or both or such larger amount as is sufficient to exhaust the assets utilized in and the profits obtained from the illegal activity

Any other controlled substance or counterfeit substance classified in Schedule I, II, or III, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding five years, or to pay a fine not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000), or both.

Schedule IV, is guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding three years, or to pay a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both.

Schedule V, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment not exceeding one year, or to pay a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.

If you are a doctor or a nurse and are charged with facilitating, helping, or acquiring a Controlled Substance by Fraud in Pennsylvania, you could have your professional license suspended or revoked completely, by your respective boards.

If you are charged with Acquiring a Controlled Substance by Fraud in Pennsylvania, do not talk to the police or prosecutors without an attorney. What you say will be taken out of context and used against you. If the police try to question you, exercise your sixth Amendment and tell them you want a lawyer. Do not consent to any searches of your house, computer, or phones without a proper warrant.

Once you have retained a competent Criminal Defense Attorney they will review all of the allegations being made by the police and prosecutors, including any evidence that they claim to have. Your attorney should gather the evidence or witnesses to show if you are innocent and/or just made an honest mistake, such as you may not have known that the prescription you had was fake or forged.

It is extremely important to contact an experienced law firm right away if you or someone you know is facing criminal charges in Pennsylvania. If you, your son, daughter, or loved one in Pennsylvania has been arrested for a crime in state or federal court in Pennsylvania you need legal representation Here at Manchester and Associates we represent people across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For a free consultation we can be contacted at 1-800-243-4878.

Posted: In Criminal Defense

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Can you be arrested in Pennsylvania for Wielding a firearm in self-defense?

Unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Please note that I didn’t say convicted: arrest and conviction are very different things. Arresting is what cops do and it doesn’t mean you are guilty. Neither the police nor Prosecutors decide if you are guilty; that’s up to a jury.


With that said, let us get into why you can be arrested for displaying a firearm in Pennsylvania in self-defense. The answer is simple and disturbing at the same time. With no pun intended, cops, prosecutors, and the public are gun shy. It seems more and more police react first to a situation where a firearm is brandished than they do analyzing the situation. Simply put, it is arrest first and then leave it up to the courts.


When police hear a report of a gun being displayed, they roll out hard and in packs. That’s mostly understandable. There are simply too many instances of people who are bad and use firearms in a dangerous way for them not to take a call of a firearm seriously. We expect them to do that. However, we as citizens also expect them to investigate what actually happened. That seems to be done less and less. In the past three months my firm and I have represented three different people for brandishing their licensed concealed carry pistols that they used to keep from being harmed. In each of the three instances they legitimately used their firearms to actually diffuse the situation to get the aggressor to back down and go away. However, because the bad guys called the cops first, they were charged. Now they had to hire us to protect them after they legitimately protected themselves.


This article isn’t about using firearms in an irresponsible way. That is usually a crime. For instance, if you are driving and someone in front of you starts acting like a jerk and frightening you, you can’t pull out your pistol. This is not good. I had this situation last year. The case ended with a citation and not a misdemeanor or felony conviction, but it was not the right way to use a firearm.


The use of a firearm is deadly force. Deadly force can only be used to avoid death, serious bodily injury, robbery, and rape in PA. Where these situations get grey is when is someone facing serious bodily injury or death without being shot at, stabbed at, robbed, or assaulted sexually? The variations are endless. It is judged upon by the reasonable person standard. Another uncertain term in situations like this but the reasonable person standard analysis is for another post.


There are many appeals court cases where people thought they were justified in brandishing a firearm and using it or just displaying it. In some of them the appeals court overturned the convictions. In others they didn’t. Some of those cases that I read even surprised me that the person wasn’t justified.


Here is the bottom line. If you are in a situation where you feel threatened with serious bodily injury, death, robbery, or rape and you are not the aggressor you will do what you have to. When the situation is over, get to a safe place and call the police. Say you were threatened with whatever occurred and you had to brandish your firearm because you were afraid of one or several of those four things. That is ALL YOU SAY. Once the police arrive, cooperate if they ask you for your firearm but do not talk about what happened. Politely tell them thanks for coming to help you and you want to speak to a lawyer before you give any further statements. Don’t say anything else. Then call a lawyer as soon as possible.

Your lawyer and your freedom and your right to further own a firearm will thank you later.

Posted: In Court Procedure, Criminal Defense, News

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COVID-19 AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Just as COVID-19 is wreaking havoc across the United States in terms of sickness, deaths, and lost jobs it is also wreaking havoc on the criminal justice court system. In Pennsylvania as of April 2, 2020, the courts are essentially closed down until May 1, 2020. There are some exceptions to the closure of the courts. Cases involving Protection from Abuse Petitions and Orders, certain other emergency petitions, and hearings involving people who are incarcerated are still happening just not in the way they traditionally were.  Many hearings are being conducted using “advanced communication technology.”  Well, what does that mean? It means video and telephone. Video and telephone communication have been used in the business sector for decades but not in the criminal justice court system. As a result, the courts are now trying to piece together systems to conduct necessary hearings.  It is up to each jurisdiction to determine which systems to use and how. There is not one unified system used by the various courts, jails, or lawyers in the state. It is a hodgepodge system being set up as it goes. This makes it more difficult to communicate confidentially with your client during a hearing.   It also makes it harder to cross-exam witnesses as you can’t “show” someone their prior statement or testimony or any other physical evidence.

Criminal cases are also being continued throughout the state because a lot of court proceedings are conducted in large groups where dozens or hundreds of cases are heard at one time with packed courtrooms. These hearings are rightfully being continued because lots of people in one room is very dangerous at this time.  You simply can’t practice “social distancing” in a courtroom with 100 defendants, their attorney, court staff and the prosecuting attorneys.   Criminal charges are stressful enough but with cases constantly being continued, the stress is building up even more due to the uncertainty of not knowing when a person is getting their day in court. One of the most concerning issues for a criminal defendant is that Rule 600 has been suspended during this declared judicial emergency. Rule 600 is the Pennsylvania speedy trial rule. The speedy trial rule dictates that a person has to be brought to trial within 365 days of being arrested. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule in “normal” times. However, this unprecedented move to create a blanket suspension of Rule 600 is unprecedented and will likely be litigated in the future.   Although Rule 600 has been suspended a person’s constitutional rights to a speedy trial and to due process remain in place.   How the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s suspension of Rule 600 will affect those constitutional rights is also an issue that will be litigated in the coming months.

The pandemic has pointed out many inefficiencies in the court system.  Among these are the communications issues I discussed above.  In addition, it has highlighted the number of counties that do not participate in the statewide electronic document filing system.  Mandatory participation would eliminate the need for each county to create email addresses for filing documents to prevent in-person filings and comply with social distancing requirements. Things will constantly be changing in the next several weeks, and hopefully not months. However, this firm is and will be constantly monitoring those changes, informing our clients about them, and exposing inefficiencies and lobbying for changes in the criminal justice systems once things get back to normal.

Posted: In Crimes, Criminal Defense

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Criminal Conspiracy In Pennsylvania

Have you or someone you know been charged with Criminal Conspiracy in Pennsylvania? The charge of Criminal Conspiracy in Pennsylvania can have very serious consequences that can include many years in prison and thousands in fines just for a single charge.

What Are Criminal Conspiracy Charges?

This is a crime that must involve at least two people. It is an agreement to conspire together to commit a crime with the intent of facilitating the commission of the crime by attempting, solicitation to commit the crime or actually committing the crime, or agreeing to aid in the planning of the attempt, solicitation, or the act of the crime.

There can only be one conspiracy charge per person for the entire group. You should not be charged with multiple conspiracy charges for the same underlying criminal charge. In other words, it does not matter how many conspirators there are it is the same conspiracy agreement, thus there should only be one conspiracy charge.

The gravity of this offense depends on the underlying crime that the conspiracy is about. The way the charge is laid out is Conspiracy to commit (the underlying charge). Whatever the underlying charge is, is determines the gravity of the offense. Meaning that if the underlying charge is to commit a summary harassment, and then the Conspiracy will be charged as a summary at the same level as the harassment charge, whether or not the actual harassment offense occurred. This includes any offense that can be the underlying offense. Thus you could face life in prison if the underlying offense is murder. It does not matter if they underlying offense actually occurred, all that matters is that there were the agreement and an action to further the agreement to commit the underlying offense.

Contact a Criminal Conspiracy Charges

As you can see being charged with Criminal Conspiracy in Pennsylvania is very serious offense. The results of a conviction could possibly result in spending decades in prison. If the police arrest you Criminal Conspiracy it is very important to be polite but remain silent and request to speak with your lawyer right away. Anything you say can and will be used against you. With so much at risk, it is important that you exercise your constitutional rights from the very beginning.

It is extremely important to contact an experienced law firm right away in you or someone you know is charged with Criminal Conspiracy in Pennsylvania. If you, your son, daughter, or loved one in Pennsylvania has been arrested for a crime in state or federal court in Pennsylvania you need legal representation. Here at Manchester and Associates, we represent people across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For a free consultation, we can be contacted at 1-800-243-4878.

Posted: In Crimes, Criminal Defense

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Criminal Use Of Communication Facility In Pennsylvania

Have you or someone you know been charged with having a Criminal use of Communication Facility in Pennsylvania? The charge of Criminal use of Communication Facility in Pennsylvania can have very serious consequences that can include up to seven years in prison and thousands in fines just for a single charge.

This offense is related to any felony connected to drug activity. It is not illegal to use a Communication Facility which is any private or public instrument for the transmission of writing, signals, sounds, data, or the like, of any nature. Basically, any device used to communicate in any form to another person. What is illegal is using these devices to further any type of drug activity.

This offense can also be charged multiple times. The statute allows for the police and District Attorney offices to charge you for every instance where the communication facility is utilized as a separate offense. Thus you can get a lot of these felonies stacked on top of each other very quickly if you are using them over and over again.

One pitfall you must keep on the lookout for is the plea offer that the District Attorney office makes to you. They will on some occasions agree to not prosecute you for Possession With Intent to Deliver which is a felony and reduce it down to a simple possession which can be as low as a misdemeanor. However, they will at times still look to have to also plead to Criminal use of Communication Facility which still gives you a felony. Thus with a felony conviction, a lot of your rights as a citizen of Pennsylvania and the United States will be compromised. Including your gun rights and your right to vote, just to mention a few, in addition to the difficulty finding work and housing with a felony on your record.

As you can see being charged with Criminal use of Communication Facility in Pennsylvania is very serious offense. The results of a conviction will be a felony which could result in spending decades in prison if they stack multiple offenses on top of each other. If the police arrest you Criminal use of Communication Facility it is very important to be polite but remain silent and request to speak with your lawyer right away. Anything you say can and will be used against you. With so much at risk, it is important that you exercise your constitutional rights from the very beginning.

It is extremely important to contact an experienced law firm right away in you or someone you know is charged with Criminal use of Communication Facility in Pennsylvania. If you, your son, daughter, or loved one in Pennsylvania has been arrested for a crime in state or federal court in Pennsylvania you need legal representation. Here at Manchester and Associates, we represent people across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For a free consultation, we can be contacted at 1-800-243-4878.

Posted: In Constitutional Rights, Criminal Defense

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DO NOT TALK TO THE POLICE. NO MATTER WHAT.

From the desk of Brian Manchester, Esq:

Upon first meeting with a client and hearing their story, the first question I ask is “have spoken to the police?” If they tell me that they have, I then ask “have you told the police what you told me? Often enough, the answer to both of these questions is yes.

When I hear a yes to either or both of those questions, I cringe. Why? Because talking to the police gives control of my client’s story to the police. They may have heard something wrong. They may have written a note about what my client said that was incorrect. They may misperceive what my clint said – or, in rare cases, outright lie about it. 

Our founding fathers were very smart. They created the Fifth Amendment to the constitution for a reason. Please follow it.

When my clients remain silent, we then control the narrative. We get to control what we say, when and to whom. We can decide to say nothing at all. It gives my clients and me the power to investigate leads, gather evidence, and talk to experts first before the police talk to them. There is EVERY advantage to remaining silent and NO DISADVANTAGES to it.

Client’s often ask me something like this: “Well if I don’t talk to them. They will think I am guilty!” The police are speaking to you because they suspect or believe that you might have done something illegal. Police are not bored. They don’t go around talking to random people about crimes. If an officer suspects you then they want to talk to you. DO NOT do it. Do not give them an advantage. You can’t talk your way out of anything. Being questioned by an officer is a stressful thing. Think back to times in your life when you were stressed. Do you express yourself clearly when you are stressed? Do you get all of the details right when you are stressed? Do you stutter or trip over your words when you are stressed? These are all things that you do not want to do when you speak to police officers.

Once I represented a man charged with murder and the prosecutor wanted the death penalty. The police never could have charged my client without him giving a statement to them. Fortunately, I was able to have the death penalty thrown out before trial and at trial he was convicted of third rather than first-degree murder. My client talking to the police almost cost him his life. Do not do it. Also do not lie and try to talk yourself out of something. That just makes it worse and if you have not done anything, it makes you look guilty and makes the defense of your case extremely hard.

          There are many reasons why remaining silent is the only way to go. I could go on for pages. However, in all my years of practice, I have never found a better explanation than that offered by the video below. This is a lecture given by James Duane, a professor from Regent University School of Law. Please watch the whole thing:. It may be the best and most helpful video you have ever watched.