Normally, the police file criminal charges, but Pennsylvania law lets people file charges on their own. Specifically, Rule 506 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure permits you to file private criminal complaints before a judge. If the claim is credible, official charges can follow, sometimes with very little actual evidence.

These can severely complicate someone’s life. And that’s what happened to our client after a dispute with his neighbor.

Apparently, the two men feuded in the past and after a lawsuit ended in our client ‘s favor, the neighbor alleged that our client elbowed him in a courtroom hallway. He filed a private criminal complaint and our client found himself charged with simple assault.

Based on nothing more than the man’s claim, he was now facing a possible conviction. These can be very difficult situations, but this man had the good sense to get a skilled attorney to resolve the matter.

Attorney Fienman went back and forth with the DA and tried to get video evidence from where the alleged assault took place. After multiple chances to provide the evidence, attorney Fienman made an impassioned argument about the situation and his client’s right to review evidence. By highlighting the obvious lack of evidence, the judge dismissed the assault charge and our client put this baseless accusation behind him.

The outcome of an individual case depends on a variety of factors unique to that case. Case results do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any similar or future case.

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