Can the Prosecutor Drop Minor Charges to Focus on a More Serious Charge
My question involves criminal law for the state of: PENNSYLVANIA
I was arrested for DUI in the state of PA. I went to my Preliminary Hearing, and the officer has a number of other charges tacked on with my DUI charge. In the Police report, He cited these other charges (disregard traffic control device, Careless driving, driving at safe speed, Failure to use seatbelt). My question is; Every other charge was dismissed at the preliminary hearing except the DUI. Is it legal to use other lesser charges to warrant a "lead charge" of dui and then dismiss the charges that granted the officer probable cause or even reasonable suspicion? I'm not a lawyer, and I haven't really had any one of authority explain this to me. It would seem to me that if the lesser charges that led to and gave reason for the traffic stop and held as probable cause were dismissed, then shouldn't the charge resulting from the dismissed charges also be dismissed? Seeing as how the latter charge could not have been probable or reasonable if the lesser ones were not? Please don't bite my head off, I'm just trying to understand this.
Thanks.
Casper
Re: Understanding Probable Cause/Reasonable Suspicion and Charge Dismissal
Generally, the fact lesser charges are dismissed doesn't necessarily indicate there is an issue with a surviving charge. Were they dismissed or just dropped? Why were they dismissed? If the officer had probable cause to stop you for any of those violations and discovered you were DUI, it's going to be good unless the court found issue with the probable cause for the initial stop. That would require a full review of the facts and court record by your attorney (you do have one, right?) to see if there is any avenue of attack.
Re: Can the Prosecutor Drop Minor Charges to Focus on a More Serious Charge
In most states, traffic infractions are prosecuted separately from the DUI charge. You would go to court separately for the infractions as opposed to the DUI. Even if traffic violations could be tried along with a DUI, there is absolutely no reason why a prosecutor can't drop the violation to simplify the issues for the trier of fact and to focus on the most serious charge against the driver.
If in fact the officer never cited a driver for traffic infractions, but indicated to a prosecutor that the driver had committed a range of infractions for which tickets could be issued, it could easily be that nothing was "dropped" and that the infractions were listed to support the traffic stop and the officer's actions after the traffic stop was effected.
The mere fact that traffic violations are voluntarily dismissed is not in any way an indication that the traffic stop was valid, and will not provide you with a defense to drunk driving.