Criminal Defense Attorneys in Lancaster & York, PA Case Results

DUI

• DUI. The DUI charge was dismissed following negotiations, and client was released from prison.
• DUI, second offense within the 10 year look-back period. The police officer observed the defendant/client and her passenger changing a flat tire alongside the road. The officer stopped to assist. While speaking with our client he observed her to be unsteady on her feet, smelled a strong odor of alcohol emanating from her breath and noted her eyes were bloodshot and glassy. The passenger informed the officer that our client was the driver of the car. Attorney litigated this matter before a jury. Jury finds defendant not guilty!
• DUI. This was our client’s third arrest for DUI in the span of 30 years. At the time of his arrest, WC had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.25%. We successfully represented our client before the high BAC panel of the Office of the District Attorney, and our client was accepted by the court in to the accelerated rehabilitative disposition (ARD) program.
• DUI. Our client faced the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Accelerated Rehabilitation Disposition (ARD) Panel. Our client was well-prepared for questioning, and was accepted into the ARD program.
• 7th driving while operating privileges suspended or revoked. Our firm obtained dismissal of the charge.
• Protection from abuse action. Following a hearing, the court dismissed the claims.
• Driving with a suspended license, DUI-related. Following negotiations, client plead guilty to driving without a license 1501 and was fined $200.00. Client avoids mandatory 60 days in LCP, $1,000 fine, and additional 1-year license suspension.

Domestic Violence

• Simple assault domestic violence. Allegedly our client bit the hand and neck area of the alleged victim. Furthermore, the alleged victim suffered a broken thumb. Attorney Marinaro litigated the matter and all charges were dismissed. Client remains with no criminal convictions and she will continue her pursuit to become a registered nurse.
• Domestic assault. Our client was unable to accept a conviction based upon his immigration status and work-related issues. Attorney Marinaro negotiated to have all charges dismissed. The parties will remain separate and apart.
• Protection from abuse (PFA) action. Despite very serious allegations of abuse, our firm successfully negotiated complete dismissal of the action. Furthermore, Marinaro Law negotiated for the ability to communicate about custody matters and to attend the pick-up and drop-off transfers of the children.
• Simple assault. Our client was charged with placing a shotgun in his girlfriend’s face during an argument. In a negotiated resolution, our firm was able to eliminate our client’s exposure to a prison sentence. Our client was sentenced to only two years of probation, rather than looking at a lengthy prison sentence.
• Abuse petition. After a contentious hearing with two days of testimony, an order to dismiss was entered. Attorney successfully argued that the plaintiff’s story was not credible. The judge agreed.

Robbery

• Felony 1 robbery. A young Lancaster County man who was facing decades in prison is now free after a jury acquitted him of armed robbery with a shotgun. The jury took less than 45 minutes to find our client not guilty of a home-invasion robbery in which three individuals were assaulted and menaced with a shotgun. Our firm successfully argued that no physical evidence was presented linking the defendant to the robbery.
• Robbery with a deadly weapon (9 mm handgun). A jury trial was held and our client was found not guilty. The trial strategy was to attack the vulnerability of eyewitness testimony.
• Burglary, robbery, criminal conspiracy. Our client was charged with helping to ransack an elderly man’s apartment, and then bragging about it to his friends. The court deemed our client to be amenable to treatment in the juvenile system. Our firm argued the prosecution’s evidence did not put our client at the crime scene. Neither our client’s fingerprints nor his hair was found at the man’s apartment, and the initial report of the incident described all three assailants as “white men in their 20’s,” whereas our client was a dark-skinned Hispanic.

Drug Charges

• Selling cocaine. A jury acquitted our client of charges that he sold $450 worth of cocaine to an informant in a Lancaster Township restaurant parking lot. After deliberating for about one hour, the jury found our client not guilty of delivery of cocaine. Our client, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, would have faced a minimum three-year state prison sentence and deportation if convicted. Our firm contended during the trial that drug task force detectives failed to confirm that it was our client’s voice on the recording made of the drug deal, that no video or photographs existed of the defendant conducting the deal, and that fingerprint samples were not taken from the bag containing 14 grams of cocaine.
• Delivering several bags of marijuana to a confidential informant (CI) while in the presence of an undercover detective. The jury returned with a verdict of not guilty to the felony offense of delivery of marijuana, and not guilty to the felony criminal conspiracy charge.
• Possession of hash oil; possession of drug paraphernalia. Our client was pulled over after he was observed operating his Buick sedan with an inoperable taillight. Our client provided the police with consent to search the vehicle. Following negotiations, the drug charges were dismissed. Our client pled guilty to the $25 fine for operating a vehicle without rear light.
• Serious drug charges. Our firm worked tirelessly to have the charges reduced to simple possession.
• Felony offense-cocaine (2.7 grams) reduced to possession of cocaine. Attorney Marinaro successfully negotiated a felony drug offense to a misdemeanor possession.
• Delivery of heroin and cocaine. The State Attorney General disbanded a six-figure heroin operation by charging 11 suspects. Attorney Marinaro represented a client during an open court plea. Following presentation, client was sentenced to a time-served sentence in the Lancaster County Prison.
• Possession of a controlled substance. Our client was facing up to two years in prison for these charges. Marinaro Law negotiated a resolution at the preliminary hearing for a guilty plea to one count of possession of paraphernalia.
• Felony possession with intent to distribute a large quantity of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a school. The school zone carries a mandatory 2-year sentence in the state correctional institution. The government alleged our client was a passenger in a car when an undercover police officer entered the car to purchase the drugs from the driver. The driver handed the money to our client, who was seated in the front passenger seat. Attorney Marinaro negotiated for our client to plead no contest, no admission, no jail time.

Assault

• Aggravated assault. A man suffered a 10-inch gash to his abdomen that required life-saving surgery after he was slashed at a city party. A local jury decided the man charged, our client, wasn’t the one responsible. An eyewitness testified at trial that his nephew was the perpetrator. The jury acquitted our client after less than two hours of deliberation. NOT GUILTY!
• Simple assault. Our client was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. The Commonwealth could not meet the burden of proof at the preliminary hearing and the charge was dismissed.
• Simple assault. C.M. was accused of physically assaulting the alleged victim by pushing the victim’s face into the floor several times; smashing the victim’s face into the floor; and strangling the victim, making it difficult to breathe. The victim escaped by running to the neighbor’s house and calling 911. Following testimony by the alleged victim and arresting officer, all charges were dismissed.
• Aggravated assault and recklessly endangerment. Our client was accused of causing serious bodily injury to his ex-girlfriend. The police aver that our client dragged the victim from his moving automobile. The alleged victim eventually fell from the car, striking her head, causing loss of consciousness. Our client avoided potential state incarceration when all of the charges were dismissed at the preliminary hearing.
• Aggravated assault. All charges were dismissed.
• Simple assault. All charges were dismissed.

White Collar Crimes

• Embezzlement. Client stole approximately $200,000.00 and reimbursed the victim about $60,000.00. Restitution remains at $122,769.00. Attorney Marinaro negotiated a sentence for his client to serve one year on house arrest.
• Identity theft, Access device fraud. Marinaro Law negotiated with the commonwealth to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor. Further, we negotiated a sentence of only one-year probation for both counts.

Murder

• First-degree murder. Our client was not convicted of first-degree murder or third-degree murder, but was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. Attorney Marinaro asked for an outright acquittal, arguing that the victim threw a “vicious punch” at his client before his client, in self-defense, responded with lethal force. The jury returned with the verdict after 5 hours of deliberation.