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610-436-1410
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610-436-1410You read the charge, then read it again, but something isn’t adding up. A critical fact is missing from the police paperwork, or the accusations stretch far beyond the actual evidence. When a case is built on shaky ground, your immediate priority is clear: does this even need to go to trial?
Skinner Law Firm can review whether the Commonwealth has enough proof to keep the charge against you alive. If you need a criminal defense lawyer to consider a motion to dismiss criminal charges in PA, contact our firm to find out whether the charge can be challenged before trial.
A motion to dismiss asks the court to decide whether the charge against you has a legal reason to keep going. It does not ask for a better plea offer or a lighter sentence. It asks whether the Commonwealth has failed to meet a requirement that must be satisfied before the charge can continue through the local court system.
If the court grants dismissal, the charge stops at that point in the case. The result is different from winning at trial, but it can still change what you are forced to defend against. The key question is not whether the accusation sounds serious. The question is whether Pennsylvania procedure allows that charge to continue based on what the Commonwealth has actually shown the court.
Your first court dates can tell you whether the charge rests on proof or assumption. In Pennsylvania, the preliminary hearing gives the defense a chance to test whether the Commonwealth has enough evidence for the case to continue.
Your attorney can challenge criminal charges in PA without proving your innocence at that hearing. The question is narrower: whether the prosecution has enough to keep the charge in court. Pennsylvania court data shows why this part of the case cannot be treated as a formality.
In the most recent information available, Pennsylvania reported 176,197 new criminal cases filed before magisterial district judges, and 32,601 criminal cases were dismissed at that level (just over 17%). Those figures do not predict what will happen in your case, but they show that dismissal before trial is part of how Pennsylvania criminal courts operate.
At the preliminary hearing, the Commonwealth must give the issuing authority a legal reason to keep the charge against you in court. Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 542 uses the phrase “prima facie case.” Prima facie is a Latin phrase meaning “on the face of it” or the initial evidence is sufficient to prove the claim. Put simply, the prosecution must present enough evidence to show that an offense occurred and that you are the person who committed it.
That burden is lower than proof beyond a reasonable doubt, so the hearing does not decide guilt. You are not asking the judge to decide whether a jury would convict you after trial. You are asking whether your case has enough legal support to continue past the preliminary hearing instead of ending there.
When the Commonwealth does not present a prima facie case, the charge against you should not continue toward trial. Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 543 says the issuing authority discharges the defendant if no offense has been supported by a prima facie case. In that moment, you are not receiving a reduced charge or a better offer. The charge stops because the required showing was not made.
Discharge means the court has stopped the charge at the preliminary hearing level. It does not mean the judge found you innocent, and it does not answer every question about what the Commonwealth could try later. It means the prosecutor did not give the court enough to justify sending that charge forward at that hearing.
What are grounds for dismissal of criminal charges in PA? The court needs a valid reason to stop the charge against you before trial. It is not enough that the accusation feels unfair. Your dismissal argument has to show why the Commonwealth cannot keep that specific charge in court.
A court can dismiss a charge when one or more of these problems keeps the Commonwealth from bringing your case to trial:
A dismissal argument works best when it points to the exact reason the charge should not continue. Our team at Skinner Law Firm can review what the Commonwealth claims happened and test whether the charge is supported by Pennsylvania law.
Even when the court does not dismiss the charge, that challenge can change how the prosecutor evaluates the case. If the charge cannot survive that review, our team can ask the court to dismiss it before trial.
When you ask for dismissal, you are asking the court to stop the charge before a trial decision is ever made. The judge is not deciding whether a jury would believe the Commonwealth. Instead, the judge looks at whether the charge has enough support to stay in court.
If the judge dismisses the charge, you no longer have to defend against that charge at that point in your case. That is different from an acquittal, which comes after trial. Dismissal deals with whether the charge should reach trial at all.
Suppression asks the court to keep certain proof out of your case. If the judge grants suppression, the Commonwealth loses the ability to use that evidence against you. You can still face that charge if the prosecutor has enough proof left to proceed.
This is why suppression and dismissal can sound similar when you are thinking about possible outcomes. If the court keeps key proof out of your case, the Commonwealth’s position can weaken. The ruling itself does not mean your case is officially closed yet.
A reduced charge does not end your case. It changes the accusation you still have to answer. The Commonwealth might agree to a lesser charge when the original one is harder to prove than it looked when your case began.
This can matter even if the court does not dismiss the charge. A strong dismissal request can force the prosecutor to look more closely at what the Commonwealth can actually prove, which can make a reduced charge part of the discussion.
Yes. Your criminal charge can be dismissed in Pennsylvania before trial, but the reason for dismissal matters. A preliminary hearing dismissal can leave room for refiling, while a trial-court ruling about the formal charge can have a different effect on what the Commonwealth is allowed to do next.
A police report can sound convincing and still fail to support the charge against you. A dismiss criminal charges Pennsylvania lawyer should check whether the report actually proves the offense charged instead of treating the officer’s wording as the whole case.
Yes. We can still ask for dismissal after the preliminary hearing. Once your case moves to the Court of Common Pleas, we can ask the trial court to dismiss a charge that still does not meet the requirements of Pennsylvania laws.
Yes. Prosecutors can sometimes refile charges after a preliminary hearing dismissal because Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 544 addresses reinstituting charges after dismissal at or before a preliminary hearing. If the Commonwealth files again, we can review whether the new filing fixes the reason your charge was dismissed.
No. A dismissed charge does not always disappear from your Pennsylvania criminal record on its own. Pennsylvania’s expungement statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122, covers when criminal history record information can be expunged, so your record should be reviewed separately after dismissal.
The charge against you should be tested before anyone assumes it has to reach trial. Skinner Law Firm can review the criminal court process and what the Commonwealth would have to prove and whether the accusation has enough support to continue. If dismissal is the right challenge, your Pennsylvania criminal case dismissal attorney can ask the court to stop the charge before trial.
Contact our firm to discuss whether a motion to dismiss fits your case.