By Peter Goldberger and Anna Durbin

The forum held in Marshall Auditorium on Friday evening, September 4, provided an opportunity for students to air some of their questions about legal issues arising in the wake of the previous night’s State Police “alcohol awareness” raid on an indoor-outdoor party at Lloyd Hall. As career criminal defense lawyers and longtime friends of Haverford College (one of us an alum from the Class of 1971 and the other an experienced local attorney for many arrested students over the last decade), we were invited to participate in the forum as legal resources. This op-ed shares some of what we had to say. The reader must understand, however, that all of the information in this column is necessarily very general and superficial; it is no substitute for individual, confidential legal counseling, tailored to the facts and circumstances of a particular person’s situation.

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July 27, 2009

PENNSYLVANIA — A photographer at Pennsylvania State University’s Daily Collegian was cleared of his remaining failure to disperse charge July 22 in a pre-trial motion after he was arrested last fall while covering a post-football-game riot.

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By Kevin Cirilli  
Collegian Staff Writer

A judge dismissed Wednesday the remaining charge against a Daily Collegian photographer who was arrested while on assignment photographing the Oct. 25 riot following a Penn State football team victory over Ohio State.

Citing “unclear” evidence, Centre County Judge David E. Grine dismissed the failure to disperse charge against the photographer, Michael R. Felletter, according to Grine’s ruling.

“The justice system did its part,” Felletter (senior-visual journalism) said. “Hopefully, journalists will feel freer to go out and gather the news without fearing they’ll be charged for breaking the law.”

Now Centre County officials are reviewing Grine’s ruling to determine whether to appeal or re-file the charges against Felletter, Centre County District Attorney Michael Madeira wrote in an e-mail.

Felletter photographed the riot, during which thousands of Penn State students flooded Beaver Canyon. Police initially arrested 14 people in connection with the incident.

Police said Felletter’s photographing caused the crowd to become “more exuberant, excited and destructive,” according to the criminal complaint.
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In the July 23, 2009, Philadelphia Inquirer

BELLEFONTE, Pa. – A judge dismissed the remaining misdemeanor charge against a photographer for the independent campus newspaper at Penn State in connection with an unruly fan celebration in State College.

Prosecutors had dropped five of six misdemeanors against photographer Michael Felletter earlier this year following the Oct. 25 disturbance after the Nittany Lions’ football win at Ohio State.

A sixth count, for failing to disperse, was dismissed Wednesday by a Centre County judge.

Felletter’s lawyer (Andrew Shubin, from State College, PA) said the student was just doing his job as a member of the press.

Authorities had initially charged about 20 people in connection with the disturbance, and several were charged with felony riot.

By Shannon P. Duffy
U.S. Courthouse Correspondent

The first round of in-person interviews was held Friday in Harrisburg for lawyers seeking to be appointed to the post of U.S. attorney in one of Pennsylvania’s three federal districts.

Among the candidates for the Eastern District slot were Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham and three former federal prosecutors — Elizabeth K. Ainslie and James J. Eisenhower, both of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, and A. Roy DeCaro of Raynes McCarty.

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The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board gave State College Borough $80,000 about a year ago to initiate an 18-month pilot program aimed at getting to the source of  underage drinking.  State College’s program is winding down (please read story below), and the Borough has crafted a manual with strategies and advice for implementing an effective Source Investigation Program (SIP).

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Under the Influence / An occasional series on college drinking
Read more:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07280/823200-298.stm#ixzz0LQ6abkW5

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. –The 18-year-old Penn State University student was urinating outside a home near fraternity row late on a Friday night when police swooped in, grabbing his arm before he could escape into a dark alley.

The startled young man, his face flushed after emerging from the bushes, was about to be cited for underage drinking.

He was also about to get another surprise, one that would make him squirm even more.

The officers didn’t simply want to know how much he drank. They wanted him to give up the names of those who provided him alcohol. After a few minutes, the man in the sweaty white shirt admitted being served at an off-campus fraternity where he was a pledge a short walk away. (more…)

75 Pa.C.S. § 1547(c) contains explicit language requiring that, in order to provide “admissible” evidence “breath test devices “shall have been calibrated and tested for accuracy within a period of time and in a manner

specified by regulations of the Departments of Health and Transportation.”

Since the test results were the critical evidence of guilt, the admission of that evidence (uncallibrated PBT) constituted prejudicial error, and appellant is entitled to a new trial.

see: Commonwealth v. Brigidi

Unrebutted evidence of alcohol ingestion obtained from a PBT device, in conjunction with evidence of a defendant’s minority age, is

sufficient to establish the offense of underage consumption of alcohol.  Commonwealth v. Breslin, 732 A.2d 629, 631 (Pa.Super. 1999), citing

Commonwealth v. Allen, 684 A.2d 633 (Pa.Super. 1996).3  Compare: Commonwealth v. Myrtetus, 580 A.2d 42 (Pa.Super. 1990) (PBT device

reading is not admissible to establish level of alcohol for purposes of determining guilt for driving while under the influence of alcohol).

see:  Commonwealth v. Brigidi

Commonwealth v. Wood

Well reasoned Pa Superior Court decision holding that troopers lack reasonable suspicion to detain alleged underage drinker for investigation when they proceeded on nothing more than her appearance as appearing to be under twenty-one years of age.

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