Not Guilty: Attorney Goldstein Obtains Full Acquittal in Rape Case

Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire

Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire, recently obtained a full acquittal in a rape case. In Commonwealth v. P.S., the defendant was charged in Philadelphia with rape of a child and related charges for allegedly assaulting his biological daughter. According to the complainant, the assaults began when she was between the ages of 3 - 5 and continued until she was about 13 or 14. She did not report them until she was around 16, but prosecutors arrested P.S. and charged him with a number of sex crimes.

P.S. retained Attorney Goldstein to defend against the allegations. Attorney Goldstein investigated the case, obtained discovery from the District Attorney’s Office, and learned that the complainant’s mother, from whom the client had separated shortly before the allegations were first made in Family Court, had been claiming that P.S. assaulted the complainant for years. Attorney Goldstein investigated further and obtained family court transcripts which showed that the complainant had told judges that the assaults did not actually happen and that there was a lengthy history of litigation over child custody and child support. The family court records showed that the complainant’s mother had made these unfounded allegations supposedly on behalf of her daughter anytime she wanted to deny P.S. from having custody, but she had continued to let him see her and had never gone to the police. This behavior obviously did not make sense if the mother believed that child abuse was actually occurring.

P.S. proceeded to trial before a judge in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. The complainant testified that P.S. assaulted her, but her testimony differed wildly from what she had told social workers in a videotaped interview which took place at the Philadelphia Children’s Alliance. Through cross-examination, Attorney Goldstein was able to show that P.S.’s story had changed repeatedly, she had previously told a judge that the assaults did not actually happen, all of her medical exams had been totally normal, and her mom had been telling her that her father had molested her since she was about three years old. Finally, when the complainant’s mother testified, it quickly became clear that she had fabricated the allegations by insisting that these horrible things happened only after she began suing P.S. for child custody and child support.

The trial judge promptly acquitted P.S. at the end of the one day waiver trial. The judge found that the allegations were fabricated and that the complainant’s mother had essentially traumatized her daughter and put her up to making the allegations. Instead of facing decades in prison and a lifetime of Megan’s Law registration, P.S. has now been found not guilty and will be eligible to have the charges expunged.

Allegations of child abuse and child sexual assault are among the most serious possible charges and the most difficult to defend. Judges and juries often have a difficult time believing that children could lie about something so horrible. Fortunately, our attorneys are experienced in investigating these cases and cross-examining the complainants and witnesses in order to effectively fight back against false charges. We have won many of these cases at preliminary hearings, at trial, on appeal, and in PCRA litigation.

Facing criminal charges? We can help.

Goldstein Mehta LLC Criminal Defense Attorneys

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 in cases involving charges such as Conspiracy, Aggravated Assault, Rape, and Murder. We have also won criminal appeals and PCRAs in state and federal court. 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 6/21/23 Zak Goldstein 6/21/23

Motion to Suppress Firearm Granted Due to Defective Search Warrant

Philadelphia Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire

Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire, recently won the suppression of a firearm in the Philadelphia Municipal Court. In the case of Commonwealth v. J.K., the client was charged with possessing a firearm as a prohibited person for allegedly refusing to relinquish two firearms after Family Court issued a final protection from abuse order against him. Fortunately, J.K. retained Attorney Goldstein, and Attorney Goldstein obtained suppression of the gun that police recovered when they searched J.K.’s apartment.

In this case, J.K.’s relative obtained a protection from abuse order against him. The final order contained a condition which required J.K. to surrender any firearms. After nearly a year went by, the Philadelphia Police conducted a background check on J.K. and concluded that he had not surrendered any firearms to the Sheriff’s Department as directed by the order. According to police records, J.K. had allegedly purchased two firearms legally about four or five years ago. A detective called J.K., and he told them that he did not have any firearms to surrender. Similarly, sheriffs deputies went to J.K.’s apartment and left notices on his door that he was required to surrender any firearms according to the terms of the PFA.

J.K. never surrendered any firearms, leading police to then obtain a search warrant for the apartment. When they executed the search warrant, they found one gun in the apartment. They arrested J.K., and the District Attorney’s Office charged him with possessing a firearm as a prohibited person in violation of 18 Pa.C.S. § 6105 (VUFA § 6105). Under the statute, it is illegal for a person to possess a firearm while they have an active PFA order against them.

J.K. retained Attorney Goldstein, and Attorney Goldstein litigated a motion to suppress on his behalf. Attorney Goldstein moved that the Municipal Court judge suppress the firearm because the warrant that the police relied upon did not actually contain probable cause. Specifically, the warrant provided only that J.K. had purchased firearms about four or five years prior to the date on which the Family Court issued the PFA and that he had not relinquished those firearms to the sheriff. The problem with the warrant, however, was that the police had no evidence that J.K. still had the firearm.

Does Pennsylvania Maintain a Registry of Firearms?

The simple answer to this question is no. Pennsylvania does not maintain a registry of firearm possession. Pennsylvania and federal law require a person who wishes to purchase a firearm from a dealer to undergo a background check and fill out certain paperwork at the time of the sale. The dealers generally keep that paperwork, and they provide copies of that paperwork to the police or federal agents when someone fails the background check so that the police can investigate whether the person attempted to purchase the gun illegally. This paperwork, however, does not go into any kind of central registry that can tell the police or other law enforcement where a particular gun is at any time. Additionally, there are many firearms transfers which do not require the completion of any paperwork at all. For example, a person may give a firearm to a parent, spouse, child, grandparent, or grandchild without completing any of the background check paperwork. Additionally, if someone left the state and sold the firearm in another state, the Pennsylvania State Police would not have any information on that transaction. Finally, if a gun were lost, stolen, or destroyed, the local police also may not have any information on the whereabouts of the gun.

So, although it is common for people to believe that a gun is “registered” to them after they have purchased it from a gun store, the reality is that Pennsylvania does not maintain a registry of firearms. Instead, the police tried to find out if J.K. still had a gun by checking various databases for whether or not the gun had ever been reported stolen. They did not know whether J.K. had gifted it to a close relative as allowed by law, had it stolen, sold the gun legally, or lost or destroyed it. When the police called, J.K. calmly told them that he did not have any firearms to surrender, and the purchase of the firearms had been four or five years earlier. The police, however, had obtained the search warrant based on this mistaken idea that guns are registered and that if J.K. had legally disposed of or transferred the guns, the police would somehow know about it. This idea, however, is not correct. Accordingly, Attorney Goldstein successfully argued that just because J.K. had a gun four or five years earlier did not mean he would still have a gun that he would need to surrender at the time that the PFA order was issued by the Family Court judge. The Municipal Court agreed, found that the warrant did not contain probable cause, and granted the motion to suppress.

It is also important to note that Pennsylvania does not have a good faith requirement for invalid search warrants. In the federal system, prosecutors often may move forward even if the search warrant was defective in some way or even if it had already been executed. In the state court system, evidence obtained in reliance on a defective warrant must be suppressed. Once evidence has been suppressed, it cannot be used in court, and prosecutors will generally be unable to move forward with the case.

Facing criminal charges? We can help.

Zak Goldstein 6/9/23 Zak Goldstein 6/9/23

Not Guilty: Attorney Goldstein Obtains Acquittal in Aggravated Assault of Child Case

Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire, recently won a full acquittal in an aggravated assault of a child case. In Commonwealth v. S.B., prosecutors charged S.B. with aggravated assault of a child and endangering the welfare of a child because S.B. was unable to explain injuries that occurred to her three month old baby.

About two years ago, S.B. called 911 after noticing that her nearly three month old baby began to make unusual motions with his arm. An ambulance quickly arrived and took S.B. and the baby to the emergency room. At the emergency room, doctors quickly determined that the baby was suffering from seizures. Further testing determined that the baby was also suffering bilateral brain bleeds and had an injury to his neck. Fortunately, the doctors were able to stabilize the child, and the child began to make a successful recovery. Had the doctors not acted, quickly, however, the baby likely would have died from the brain bleeds.

Hospital personnel questioned S.B. about the cause of the injuries, and S.B. was unable to provide them with any explanation. She asked reasonable questions. For example, she asked whether hugging the baby too hard or leaving the baby in a swing for too long could have caused these issues. After telling S.B. that these injuries could not have been caused by accident, the doctors concluded that someone had committed child abuse. They called the Philadelphia Police Department, and a Special Victims Unit detective began an investigation. The detective interviewed S.B., the child’s father, S.B.’s grandmother, and the medical staff. Additionally, a child protection team doctor wrote a report concluding that the baby had been the victim of child abuse. S.B. was unable to provide any explanation as to what happened, and she told the police and doctors that she was the primary caregiver to the baby. She did mention that she had left the baby alone with the baby’s father on the night before the seizures began, but the police ignored that fact. Instead, they asked to search her phone after she told them that she had been texting with her mother about what could have caused the injuries and googling the various symptoms of shaken baby syndrome and SIDS. Notably, the father did not accompany S.B. and the baby to the hospital.

After the police confirmed that she had in fact conducted these Google searches, the police arrested S.B. Prosecutors promptly charged her with aggravated assault of a child and endangering the welfare of a child. They could not find the baby’s father to obtain an interview for a month, and he had a lengthy history of domestic violence. Nonetheless, they opted only to arrest S.B. Prosecutors maintained at all times that she must have intentionally injured the baby that she had rushed to the hospital.

S.B. quickly found herself facing $500,000 bail and the prospect of a 5-10 year mandatory minimum sentence should she be convicted of aggravated assault. Fortunately, she retained Attorney Goldstein. Attorney Goldstein thoroughly investigated the case and quickly became convinced that law enforcement had made an egregious error in charging S.B. Attorney Goldstein reviewed the discovery, interviewed family members, obtained medical records, and located records which showed the baby’s father’s violent history. Attorney Goldstein then had the case scheduled for trial before a Philadelphia judge.

Through cross-examination of the child protection team doctor, Attorney Goldstein established that the police had evidence of child abuse but no evidence that S.B. committed the abuse. Specifically, S.B. had no prior record, rushed the baby to the hospital as soon as she realized something was seriously wrong, seemed appropriately concerned, asked normal questions, and remained at the hospital until the baby was discharged. She voluntarily spoke with the doctors, nurses, and police detectives, and she provided the detectives with her phone without even requiring the detectives to get a search warrant. She maintained at all times that she did not know what happened, that she was the primary caregiver for the baby, and that she had left the house for about an hour shortly before the symptoms developed.

Attorney Goldstein also cross-examined the detective on his failure to investigate the father’s history of domestic violence and the lack of evidence showing that S.B. had done anything other than rush the baby to the hospital and try to Google the possible causes of symptoms. The Commonwealth objected, arguing that such evidence was not admissible. Anticipating this argument, Attorney Goldstein was prepared with the recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court case law on the issue and successfully convinced the trial judge that the evidence was admissible to show that someone else had committed the crime.

Finally, Attorney Goldstein used S.B.’s text messages to show that there was absolutely no consciousness of guilt on her part - she had googled the symptoms to try to get help, immediately contacted her mother and 911, and acted the same way that a concerned parent who did not in fact cause the injuries would have acted. Attorney Goldstein also presented evidence of S.B.’s good character in the community.

The trial judge immediately found S.B. not guilty of all charges. Instead of facing a mandatory minimum sentence of five to ten years’ incarceration, S.B. will have the charges expunged. Unfortunately, this case highlights the rush to judgment that police and healthcare professionals often engage in anytime a child presents for an appointment or at the emergency room with an injury. Accidents happen, illnesses sometimes present in atypical ways, and even if child abuse has occurred, the police do not always know who committed it. But in cases involving the potential abuse of children, the system is under a lot of pressure to make an arrest. This leads to innocent people like S.B. getting arrested, and this case serves as a cautionary tale as to why you should always consult with a lawyer before speaking with the police. Fortunately, the trial judge acquitted, the baby recovered well from the injuries, and S.B. will be able to return to her life.

Facing criminal charges? We can help.

Goldstein Mehta LLC Criminal Defense Lawyers

Zak Goldstein 5/27/23 Zak Goldstein 5/27/23

Attorney Goldstein Selected to 2023 PA Super Lawyers Rising Stars List

Zak T. Goldstein

Rated by Super Lawyers

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Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire, has been selected to the 2023 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers Rising Stars list. Each year, no more than 2.5 percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by the research team at Super Lawyers to receive this honor. Super Lawyers, part of Thomson Reuters, is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The annual selections are made using a patented multiphase process that includes a statewide survey of lawyers, an independent research evaluation of candidates and peer reviews by practice area. The result is a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of exceptional attorneys. The Super Lawyers lists are published nationwide in Super Lawyers magazines and in leading city and regional magazines and newspapers across the country. Super Lawyers magazines also feature editorial profiles of attorneys who embody excellence in the practice of law. For more information about Super Lawyers, visit SuperLawyers.com. This is the sixth year in a row that Attorney Goldstein has been selected to the list.