Philadelphia Criminal Defense Blog

Zak Goldstein 9/21/26 Zak Goldstein 9/21/26

PA Superior Court: No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Bag Left in the Open Bed of a Pickup Truck Where Defendant Had No Connection to the Truck

Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire - Criminal Defense Attorney in Philadelphia

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided Commonwealth v. Serrano, 2026 PA Super 205 (Pa. Super. Sept. 18, 2026), holding that the trial court erred in suppressing a gun that police found in a bag in the open bed of a parked pickup truck. The Commonwealth produced evidence that the defendant’s only connection to the truck was that he stood next to it, and he did not present any evidence to the contrary. The Court concluded that he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the truck and that he abandoned the bag when he left it there and ran. It did not decide whether the open bed of a pickup truck should receive the same protection as the inside of a vehicle in a case where a defendant actually establishes a connection to the truck.

What happened in Commonwealth v. Serrano?

On August 26, 2024, two uniformed Philadelphia police officers received a call from another officer who had seen the defendant near Reese and Somerset Streets with a black fanny pack. The officers ran a warrant search and found an active arrest warrant. When they arrived, they saw the defendant crouching behind a parked pickup truck. One officer asked to speak with him, and he ran. Police arrested him after a brief chase. He did not have keys to the truck.

Meanwhile, the second officer looked around the truck and saw a black satchel on the floor of the open truck bed. He reached in, took the bag to the police car, searched it, and found a gun. The officer did not have a search warrant. The officers testified that the defendant was not holding the bag when they arrived.

The Commonwealth charged the defendant with three firearms/VUFA offenses, and he moved to suppress. The suppression court granted the motion under the Pennsylvania Constitution. It reasoned that society would treat the bed of a pickup truck as part of the vehicle, with the same expectation of privacy as the interior. It also found that the Commonwealth did not meet its initial burden of showing that the defendant lacked a privacy interest in the truck. In the court’s view, the only evidence on that point was the absence of keys, and the defendant could have been spending time outside his home in his neighborhood. The Commonwealth appealed.

The Superior Court’s Ruling

The Superior Court reversed. Under Commonwealth v. Enimpah, 106 A.3d 695 (Pa. 2014), the Commonwealth bears the initial burden of producing evidence that the defendant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched. The defendant then bears the burden of persuasion. The Court found that the suppression court did not consider the totality of the circumstances and wrongly treated the question as one of ownership. A person who does not own a vehicle may still have a reasonable expectation of privacy in it if he lawfully possesses or controls it. Commonwealth v. Anderson, 340 A.3d 297 (Pa. 2025).

Here, the Court found that the Commonwealth showed more than missing keys. The officers did not see anyone in the truck, no one claimed it, no one saw the defendant operate it, and his only apparent connection to it was that he stood near it. He did not introduce any evidence linking himself to the truck. The Court relied on Commonwealth v. Millner, 888 A.2d 680 (Pa. 2005), in which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a defendant who stood beside a parked car and tossed items into it did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the car. In the cases the defense cited, the police saw the defendant inside the vehicle. The Court did criticize the Commonwealth, noting “with displeasure” that it never ran the truck’s registration and that running the registration could have made things a lot easier for everyone.

The Court then turned to the bag. A defendant cannot maintain a reasonable expectation of privacy in property he has abandoned. Leaving property in a place open to the public is not enough. The evidence must also show that the person tried to dissociate himself from it. The Court found that showing here because the defendant walked away from the truck and the bag when the police approached, ran, and did nothing to suggest that he intended to come back for it.

Because the defendant did not have a privacy interest in the truck, the Court declined to decide whether an open truck bed is protected like the rest of the vehicle. In a footnote, it said that the defendant might have prevailed on that argument, but that the question requires analysis because the Fourth Amendment does not protect what a person knowingly exposes to the public.

The Takeaway

Serrano is a reminder that the defendant carries the ultimate burden on the expectation of privacy. When police find a gun or drugs in a car that is not registered to the client, and the client was not inside it, the defense should be prepared to present evidence connecting him to it. Without it, the Commonwealth can meet its burden by showing that the police did not find any link between the defendant and the place they searched. It is also a reminder that people who run and throw contraband are usually worse off for a motion to suppress than people who remain calm and do not run away.

The decision also leaves room for future litigation. The Court left open whether the police need a warrant to take property from an open truck bed when the defendant has a connection to the truck. And abandonment only helps the Commonwealth when the police acted lawfully. Here, the police had an arrest warrant. Where the police unlawfully seize someone and he discards property in response, the forced abandonment doctrine requires suppression, as the Superior Court held two days earlier in Commonwealth v. Thomas, 2026 PA Super 202. This defendant may have lost either way. If the police found the warrant, they likely could have searched him incident to arrest, and if the gun was on him, they would have found it. But running away will usually not improve your case.

Facing Criminal Charges or Appealing a Criminal Case in Pennsylvania? We Can Help.

Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire

If you are facing criminal charges or under investigation by the police, we can help. We have successfully defended thousands of clients against criminal charges in courts throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. We have successfully obtained full acquittals and dismissals in cases involving charges such as Conspiracy, Aggravated Assault, Rape, Violations of the Uniform Firearms Act, and First-Degree Murder. We have also won criminal appeals and PCRAs in state and federal court, including the successful direct appeal of a first-degree murder conviction and the exoneration of a client who spent 33 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. Our award-winning Philadelphia criminal defense lawyers offer a free criminal defense strategy session to any potential client. Call 267-225-2545 to speak with an experienced and understanding defense attorney today.

Zak Goldstein 9/19/26 Zak Goldstein 9/19/26

PA Superior Court: No Mere Encounter Where Officer Pointed Gun At Suspect (Obviously)

Zak Goldstein Defense Lawyer — Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided Commonwealth v. Thomas, 2026 PA Super 202 (Pa. Super. Sept. 16, 2026), holding that a Philadelphia police officer seized the defendant when he approached him with his gun drawn. The officer claimed that he only asked for identification, but he did not turn on his body camera until after the chase ended, and the suppression court did not believe him. Because a reasonable person would not feel free to walk away from an officer holding a gun, the Superior Court affirmed the order suppressing the firearm that the defendant discarded before he ran.

**What happened in Commonwealth v. Thomas?**

On May 16, 2024, an officer setting up narcotics surveillance saw the defendant walk by with a rectangular bulge near his hip that, according to the officer, moved like an unholstered gun. He put out a radio call that the man might have a gun. A second officer, who was alone, out of uniform, and driving an unmarked car, responded to the 3900 block of North Smedley Street. He testified that the defendant picked up the pace, so he got out to try to engage him in a mere encounter and ask for identification. According to the officer, the defendant bladed his body away, dipped down behind a parked car, and ran. Police caught him after a chase, and the officer recovered a gun from the wheel well of the parked car.

As is typical, the officer’s body camera video did not have any sound for the first minute. When the defendant began to stand back up from behind the parked car, the officer had his gun in his right hand, pointed chest-high across the car towards him. The officer testified that the gun was initially pointed up and that he lowered it when the defendant ran.

The suppression court first denied the motion, finding a mere encounter that turned into a stop supported by reasonable suspicion when the defendant dipped behind the car. The defense moved for reconsideration, and the court amended its findings. It found that the officer approached with his gun out and that, without audio, it could not know what he actually said. The court cited a Philadelphia police directive that requires officers to activate their cameras before conducting any pedestrian investigation, found that the officer deliberately failed to do so, and did not credit his testimony about what he said. It granted the motion, and the Commonwealth appealed to the Superior Court.

The Superior Court’s Ruling

The Superior Court first considered sua sponte whether the suppression court had jurisdiction to reverse itself more than 30 days after its original order. It did because a pre-trial suppression order is interlocutory and the 30-day limit in 42 Pa.C.S. § 5505 does not apply. Commonwealth v. James, 69 A.3d 180 (Pa. 2013). The Court did not endorse the procedure because Rule 581(J) makes the denial of a suppression motion final absent previously unavailable evidence, but the Commonwealth did not preserve that challenge.

On the merits, police may generally use abandoned property as evidence, but not where unlawful police action coerced the abandonment. Commonwealth v. Lewis, 343 A.3d 1016 (Pa. 2025). On appeal, the Commonwealth argued only that the interaction was a mere encounter and did not claim that the officer had reasonable suspicion. The question therefore became whether a reasonable person in the defendant’s position would have felt free to leave.

The Court held that he would not. An officer may approach someone in public and ask for identification without any suspicion, but the display of a weapon is one of the recognized factors that turns an encounter into a seizure. The video supported the finding that the officer activated his camera only after he had approached, chased, and apprehended the defendant, and the suppression court did not commit a clear and manifest error by discrediting him on that basis. The officer’s testimony that his gun was initially pointed up supported the conclusion that he pointed it towards the defendant before the defendant dipped down.

The Commonwealth argued that the defendant never saw the gun because he had turned away and was wearing a hood. The Court disagreed. The video does not show the defendant during the first six seconds after the officer got out of the car, and the Court found it reasonable to infer that he bladed away because he saw the gun. The Commonwealth also argued that the officer reasonably held his gun at his side for his safety. The Court responded that the question is whether a reasonable person would feel free to ignore the officer, not whether the officer acted reasonably for his safety. The Court affirmed. Judge Sullivan noted a dissent.

The Takeaway

Thomas is a helpful case for anyone charged with possessing a gun or drugs that the police recovered after a chase. Under Pennsylvania’s forced abandonment doctrine, if the police unlawfully seize someone and he throws something away in response, the Commonwealth cannot use it. Where an officer does not follow the body camera directive, defense counsel should ask the court to consider that failure in deciding whether to believe him.

Facing Criminal Charges or Appealing a Criminal Case in Pennsylvania? We Can Help.

Zak Goldstein 7/20/26 Zak Goldstein 7/20/26

PA Superior Court: Interim Probation Does Not Authorize Warrantless Juvenile Probation Searches

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided In the Interest of T.T.-S., 2026 PA Super 136, a new published juvenile search case holding that interim probation is not the same as an adjudication of delinquency or a consent decree. Because the minor fell into neither category when juvenile probation officers searched the property where he was living, the Juvenile Act did not authorize a warrantless probation search. The Superior Court reversed the suppression ruling, vacated the delinquency disposition, and sent the case back to the Philadelphia juvenile court.

What Happened in In the Interest of T.T.-S.?

In a separate retail theft case, the juvenile court had found that T.T.-S. committed a delinquent act, but it had not yet completed the process required to adjudicate him a delinquent child. The court deferred the dispositional hearing at the juvenile’s request and placed him on what the parties called interim probation.

The Juvenile Enforcement Team later monitored the minor’s social-media activity. According to the suppression record, a music video showed him posing with several firearms, and Instagram posts appeared to show him in a kitchen with two guns on a counter. The minor had reported that he was living at a North Philadelphia address. After verifying the address and obtaining supervisory approval, juvenile probation officers went there with Philadelphia police officers and sheriff’s deputies to conduct a property search.

The officers found the minor sitting on a couch. When they lifted the couch, they recovered a loaded Glock with a machine-gun conversion switch underneath it. The Commonwealth later presented DNA evidence that it argued connected the minor to the firearm. Prosecutors charged him with possession of a firearm by a minor and other offenses.

The defense moved to suppress the gun. It argued, among other things, that the probation department had no statutory authority to conduct a warrantless probation search because the minor had not been adjudicated delinquent and was not under a consent decree. The juvenile court denied the motion, adjudicated him delinquent for possessing a firearm as a minor, and later placed him on GPS monitoring with house restrictions and other conditions.

When May Juvenile Probation Officers Conduct a Warrantless Search?

The key statute is 42 Pa.C.S. § 6304(a.1), which defines the search authority of juvenile probation officers. For a supervision-based search under subsection (a.1)(1)(i), the child must be under probation supervision either as a delinquent child or pursuant to a consent decree. The statute also requires reasonable suspicion for a property search and supervisory approval unless exigent circumstances exist, but those requirements matter only after the probation department has statutory authority to conduct the search in the first place.

The distinction between a finding that a child committed a delinquent act and an adjudication that the child is delinquent is important. Under the Juvenile Act, a delinquent child is a child whom the court has found both committed a delinquent act and is in need of treatment, supervision, or rehabilitation. The court which handled the retail theft had not yet made that complete determination when the search occurred.

A consent decree is different. It is an agreed court order entered before adjudication that suspends the delinquency proceedings and places the child under probation supervision with the goal of avoiding a delinquency adjudication. If the child successfully completes the consent decree, the same charges cannot be brought again and the juvenile record may be eligible for expungement. No consent decree had been entered for T.T.-S.

Why Interim Probation Was Not Enough

The juvenile court treated interim probation with deferred adjudication as the equivalent of supervision under a consent decree. The Superior Court rejected that conclusion.

Interim probation allows the juvenile court to maintain supervision while a dispositional hearing is continued. A consent decree, by contrast, is a specific statutory arrangement negotiated with probation services and agreed to by all affected parties. It suspends the proceedings so the child may avoid adjudication altogether. The order in this case did not satisfy the consent decree statute, and a general agreement to interim supervision could not expand the probation department’s search power beyond the categories listed in Section 6304(a.1).

The Commonwealth argued that the minor could not request a deferred adjudication, agree to interim probation, and then claim that probation officers lacked authority to supervise him. But the appeal was not about whether the juvenile court could supervise him at all. It was about whether that supervision carried the reduced privacy rights and warrantless search authority that apply after an adjudication of delinquency or under a valid consent decree. The Superior Court held that it did not.

The Superior Court Reverses the Suppression Ruling

Because the minor was neither an adjudicated delinquent child nor subject to a consent decree at the time of the search, the probation department could not rely on Section 6304(a.1)(1)(i) to search the property without a warrant. The Superior Court therefore reversed the order denying suppression, vacated the dispositional order, and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The ruling does not necessarily end the prosecution. It sends the case back to juvenile court after suppression of the firearm under the Superior Court's decision. What happens next will depend on what admissible evidence remains and how the Commonwealth proceeds on remand.

What the Court Did Not Decide

The defense raised three additional issues. It argued that juvenile probation acted as an agent of the police, that the probation department lacked reasonable suspicion and a sufficient connection between the alleged violation and the property searched, and that the juvenile court relied on inadmissible hearsay to find constructive possession. Because the statutory authority issue required suppression and resolved the appeal, the Superior Court did not decide any of those questions.

The Takeaway

In the Interest of T.T.-S. draws a clear line between the power to supervise a juvenile and the power to conduct a warrantless probation search. A court may place a child under interim supervision while postponing disposition, but that label alone does not make the child an adjudicated delinquent and does not transform the arrangement into a consent decree.

For defense lawyers, the first question in any juvenile probation search should be whether the child actually fell within one of the statutory categories that authorizes the search. The court order, the procedural stage of the case, and the findings already entered matter more than the shorthand label used in the courtroom. Reasonable suspicion cannot cure a search that probation officers lacked statutory authority to conduct.

The case also shows the importance of preserving suppression issues in juvenile court. The gun and the Commonwealth’s related forensic evidence were highly damaging, but the Superior Court never reached the strength of that evidence because the search itself was unauthorized. A successful suppression appeal can undo the delinquency disposition and require the case to proceed without the illegally obtained evidence.

Facing Juvenile or Gun Charges in Pennsylvania? We Can Help.

If you or a loved one is facing juvenile, gun, or other criminal charges, is under investigation, or is considering an appeal, Goldstein Mehta LLC can help. We have successfully defended thousands of clients in courts throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey and have won dismissals, acquittals, suppression motions, criminal appeals, and post-conviction cases. Our award-winning Philadelphia criminal defense lawyers offer a free criminal defense strategy session to potential clients. Call 267-225-2545 to speak with an experienced and understanding defense attorney today.

Zak Goldstein 7/16/26 Zak Goldstein 7/16/26

PA Superior Court: File your omnibus on time, or at least give a good excuse for filing late.

Zak Goldstein Criminal Defense Lawyer — Zak Goldstein - Criminal Defense Lawyer

The Pennsylvania Superior Court has decided Commonwealth v. Duckett, 2026 PA Super 149, a new published case affirming a York County judgment of sentence after the defense filed an untimely omnibus pretrial motion. The lesson is simple: file the motion on time, ask for an extension when necessary, and do not concede the timeliness issue if you plan to challenge it on appeal. At least give the court a good excuse and ask the court to hear the motion anyway.

What Happened in Commonwealth v. Duckett?

A Pennsylvania State Trooper stopped the defendant for failing to use a turn signal and having illegally tinted windows. During the approximately fifteen-minute stop, the defendant admitted that he had drug paraphernalia and a firearm in his car. The trooper arrested him, impounded the vehicle, obtained a search warrant, and recovered a Glock 19 and other contraband.

The defendant later moved to suppress the evidence. He argued that the trooper unlawfully prolonged the stop, questioned him without Miranda warnings, lacked probable cause to seize the car, and included false information in the search-warrant affidavit.

The problem was that the defense filed the motion too late.

The defendant waived his formal arraignment on October 3, 2022. By October 21, defense counsel had most of the discovery. The Commonwealth produced the remaining discovery on June 2, 2023.

Meanwhile, the defendant stopped communicating with counsel and failed to appear for court. The judge issued a bench warrant. Police later apprehended him, and the court lifted the warrant on October 23, 2023. Defense counsel did not file the suppression motion until November 28, 2023.

When Is an Omnibus Pretrial Motion Due?

Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 579 generally requires an omnibus pretrial motion to be filed within 30 days after arraignment. The deadline may be extended when the opportunity to file did not exist, counsel did not know the grounds for the motion, or the court finds cause for an extension. Incomplete discovery may provide cause. Even admitting that you made a mistake and requesting that the motion be heard late because it is particularly meritorious may provide good cause for excusing a late filing under existing case law, but counsel did not make those arguments here.

The Commonwealth acknowledged that counsel needed discovery but argued that, even if the deadline ran from the final production, the motion should have been filed by July 2, 2023.

At the suppression hearing, defense counsel referred to the delayed discovery and the defendant’s absence. But counsel did not know when the last discovery had arrived, did not clearly ask the court to excuse the late filing in the interests of justice, and ultimately conceded that the motion was untimely. Counsel told the court that he would “fall on [his] sword” and be found ineffective. Ultimately, he got what he wanted, and the Court deferred ruling on the motion until the PCRA stage. The problem is that an appeal takes a year or two, a PCRA takes a year or two, and a PCRA appeal takes another year or two should the PCRA court deny the petition. Thus, the defendant will likely serve the entire minimum sentence before obtaining a ruling on what should have been a pre-trial suppression motion.

The judge held a suppression hearing but ultimately dismissed the motion as untimely. The court also found the motion meritless. The case proceeded to a non-jury trial, and the defendant received an aggregate sentence of four-and-a-half to nine years in prison.

Why Did the Superior Court Find Waiver?

On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court should have excused the late motion in the interests of justice. He also claimed that the judge had improperly relied on his failure to appear and had shown bias against him.

The Superior Court did not decide whether those arguments might have worked. It held that they were waived because the defense had not raised them in the trial court.

Under Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 302(a), an issue cannot be raised for the first time on appeal. Counsel had conceded that the motion was late and had not asked the suppression court to apply the interest-of-justice analysis the defendant later relied on. Counsel also had not raised a claim of bias or argued that the court could not consider the defendant’s absence. The Superior Court therefore dismissed the timeliness issue as waived.

That ruling also made the merits of the suppression claim moot. Even if the Superior Court agreed that the search was unconstitutional, it could not grant relief because the unchallenged timeliness ruling independently required denial of the motion.

The Superior Court also cautioned the trial judge against deciding unnecessary issues. Once the motion was dismissed as untimely, the court did not need to decide whether the search was constitutional or whether counsel had been ineffective. Those questions may belong in a future PCRA proceeding.

The Takeaway

Commonwealth v. Duckett is a reminder that a potentially strong suppression issue can be lost through an untimely filing and an incomplete record.

Defense counsel should calendar the Rule 579 deadline, request an extension when discovery is incomplete, and file promptly once the grounds for suppression become known. If a motion is late, counsel must give the trial judge a specific reason to excuse it and obtain a ruling. A lawyer who concedes untimeliness cannot expect the Superior Court to create and decide a different argument on appeal. Indeed, the rule itself allows a judge to excuse an untimely filing in the interests of justice, and the Commonwealth typically must show prejudice of some kind in order to properly obtain a finding of waiver. Trial counsel here simply filed late and then did not make the right arguments to have the motion heard despite the untimely filing.

File the omnibus motion on time. If that is impossible, at least make a good record explaining why it was not filed on time and why the motion is strong. This rule is typically not enforced in Philadelphia, but many counties such as York take it seriously, and you do not want to give the trial court or an appellate court a reason to find waiver.