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COMMONWEALTH vs GEORGE HOPKINS 10-23-19


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20 hours ago, exitmusic said:

Absolutely wrong. Read the filings. They are public records. Call the courthouse and ask for copies.

Hopkins' attorneys want the tapes because they want to probe inconsistencies between what is on the tapes and what the victim told the police. There is NOTHING here dealing with bad acts by the prosecutor. This post should be removed.

Also, ineffective assistance claims are so, so, so rare. There is virtually no way to win them and no one ever brings them.

(Source: I'm a real-life, honest-to-goodness practicing attorney.)

Counsellor-

Thank you for the correction and clarification.

Although the TV/newspaper video of victim contained the victims telling their story, which was edited (I suspect) for time and to make the story "read" better, how relevant is it from a legal point of view?  I would think the sworn testimony given to the police, prosecutor, or grand jury (or some combination thereof) would be the one that "counts".  Is it a case of the defense saying 'you (victim) said this to the newspaper, but this to the police.  Well, which is it?  Why do they differ?'.   Or something like that.  Is this likely the case?

Also - what is your experience / opinion of how long it takes from indictment to actual trial?  I understand that each case is different.  Perhaps the better question would be 'once all pretrial motions are complete, what is a typical range of time it takes until jury selection begins?

Thanks again

ps - I know of several cases in other jurisdictions where, on appeal, discovery issues and ineffective assistance are raised relatively often.  But I agree that winning such accusations is not typical.

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21 hours ago, exitmusic said:

There is a statute of limitations, but how the actual time is calculated can be very convoluted. In many cases, the statute is "tolled" (paused) while one or both parties are not in the state, because if you're accused of a crime, you shouldn't get to go live in Europe, let the clock run out, and then come back. (Just an example.)

If this case were outside the PA statute, the defense team would have moved to dismiss on those grounds immediately. They have not done that to date.

thanks for chiming in and clearly up some of the nonsense in this thread!

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  • 1 month later...

Today is supposed to be a trial date. Any news? I can’t find the link to the trial document.

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3 hours ago, tesmusic said:

Today is supposed to be a trial date. Any news? I can’t find the link to the trial document.

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/DocketSheets/CPReport.ashx?docketNumber=CP-39-CR-0005538-2018&dnh=ydjtESJlJf%2fH60wd1QajOg%3d%3d

 

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I think it was scheduled as an official "Hearing" for today.  Here is the record for today's hearing.  Looks like a status hearing is scheduled for Thursday, march 5, 2020.    

12/17/2019 Scheduling Order - Status Conference 3/5/20

Anthony, James T. 12/17/2019

Bergstrom, Thomas A. 12/17/2019

Falk, Matthew Sean 12/17/2019

Hopkins, George 12/17/2019

E-Mail In Court In Court

In Court Lehigh County Adult Probation

12/17/2019 E-Mail Lehigh County Court Administration

12/17/2019 E-Mail

Edited by keystone3ply
correction
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4 minutes ago, MikeD said:

The page for today on the link says this:

Scheduling Order - Status Conference 3/5/20

Not sure if that means it is pushed to next March or not.

 

 

I think that's what it means.  (DCP needs to send a reporter for live coverage & updates.) 😇

Edited by keystone3ply
correction
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1 minute ago, MikeD said:

It does look like GH was actually in court.

It didn't copy/paste correctly.  I corrected it for their participation status:

12/17/2019 Scheduling Order - Status Conference 3/5/20

Anthony, James T. 12/17/2019  -  EMAIL

Bergstrom, Thomas A. 12/17/2019  -  IN COURT

Falk, Matthew Sean 12/17/2019  -  IN COURT

Hopkins, George 12/17/2019  -  IN COURT

In Court Lehigh County Adult Probation 12/17/2019  -   EMAIL

Lehigh County Court Administration 12/17/2019  -   EMAIL

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