Different Crimes, Different Victims, Different Witness, No Double Jeopardy
(c) Barry Zalma
Mar 12, 2024
Read the full article at https://lnkd.in/giku3nfW, see the full video at https://lnkd.in/gMJg2RZA and at https://lnkd.in/gzYdPrz7 and at https://zalma.com/blog plus more than 4750 posts.
Post 4753
Gregory Sewell appealed the order that denied his motion to dismiss based upon double jeopardy. In Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania v. Gregory Sewell, No. 1497 MDA 2022, No. J-S27016-23, Superior Court of Pennsylvania (February 27, 2024) the Pennsylvania court resolved the dispute.
FACTS
On April 2, 2021, a vehicle operated by Sandra Ramirez was struck by a driver who left the scene without exchanging information or rendering aid. In investigating Ms. Ramirez’s emergency call, Hanover Police Officer Zachariah Lloyd identified Sewell, who had a suspended license, as the driver of the other vehicle and obtained his insurance policy information. Officer Lloyd discovered that on June 15, 2021, Sewell informed his insurance adjuster in a recorded call that Sewell had been the victim of the hit-and-run by a speeding police vehicle and that he had waited at the scene for more than half an hour after calling the police, who never arrived.
The Commonwealth charged Sewell with insurance fraud and with accidents involving death or personal injury, duty to give information and render aid, duties at stop sign, drivers required to be licensed, and unlawful activities. The latter case terminated when Sewell pled guilty on August 25, 2022, to driving while his operating privilege was suspended.
Sewell thereafter filed a motion to dismiss the current case on double jeopardy grounds, asserting that the insurance fraud prosecution arose from the same criminal episode as the one that culminated in his guilty plea such that it was subject to the compulsory joinder statute.
ANALYSIS
Sewell’s counsel filed a petition to withdraw. The court denied counsel’s petition and ordered the parties to file new briefs since there was a possibility that the double jeopardy argument might be successful.
The question of whether a defendant’s constitutional right against double jeopardy would be infringed by a successive prosecution is a question of law.
A criminal episode is an occurrence or connected series of occurrences and developments which may be viewed as distinctive and apart although part of a larger or more comprehensive series.
A mere de minimis duplication of factual and legal issues is insufficient to establish a logical relationship between offenses. Rather what is required is a substantial duplication of issues of law and fact. Two separate offenses may constitute the same criminal episode if one offense is a necessary step toward the accomplishment of a given criminal objective or if additional offenses occur because of an attempt to secure the benefit of a previous offense or conceal its commission.
As the District Attorney’s Office was investigating the first case, that investigation led to the charges in the second case. The District Attorney’s Office investigated the accident further and discovered that Sewell allegedly lied on a recorded phone call to his insurance adjuster. Although the second event of the alleged fraud stems from the initial hit-and-run incident, the court concluded that it simply creates a “de minimis” connection.
Sewell pled guilty to a summary charge of driving while operating privilege is suspended while the current case is graded as a felony to prove its case for false/fraudulent insurance claim. To prove insurance fraud the Commonwealth needs to show that Sewell knowingly and with the intent to defraud any insurer filed a claim that contains any false, incomplete or misleading information concerning any fact or thing material to the claim. There is no overlap in the elements of the law because the first case Sewell pled guilty to driving a motor vehicle while his license was suspended, revoked, or cancelled and before those driving rights were restored.
Analyzing the totality of the circumstances in this case, this court found that there were two separate criminal episodes. The crimes themselves, namely driving under suspension and insurance fraud, have no common elements or logical connection.
The cases have different victims, different affiants, and occurred in different places on different days. The trial court properly held that the relationship between Sewell’s hitting another vehicle and driving away while his driver’s license was suspended on the one hand, and his decision to call his insurance company months later and claim that someone else damaged his vehicle on the other, was not so substantial that they amounted to a single criminal episode. The order was affirmed.
ZALMA OPINION
There is little similarity between a hit-and-run accident and a false insurance claim months later for the damage caused by the hit-and-run. Driving without a license is a crime in Pennsylvania, especially when causing damage and injury to others. Insurance fraud is a lie told to an insurance company with the intent of causing the insurer to pay a claim it does not owe. They are separate crimes with separate evidence. The fact that the damage for Sewell’s false insurance claim came from the hit and run does not change the fact of a different crime.
(c) 2024 Barry Zalma & ClaimSchool, Inc.
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Please tell your friends and colleagues about this blog and the videos and let them subscribe to the blog and the videos.
Subscribe to my substack at https://lnkd.in/gcZKhG6g
Go to X @bzalma; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://lnkd.in/gV9QJYH; Go to Barry Zalma videos at Rumble.com at https://lnkd.in/gV9QJYH..
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Insurance Expert May Not Testify to Speculative and Contains Unsupported Conclusions.
Posted on September 18, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at and at https://rumble.com/v7fmifw-expert-may-only-testify-to-what-experience-supports.html
In Michele A. Over, and The Estate Of Paul R. Over v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and State Farm Fire And Casualty Company, Civil Action No. 23-cv-02243-PAB-STV, United States District Court, D. Colorado (September 14, 2026) Michele and Paul Over sued State Farm Fire and State Farm Auto over hail-damage and stolen-vehicle claims.
The operative dispute concerned State Farm Auto’s motion to exclude or limit opinions from plaintiffs’ insurance-industry expert, Aaron Castillo. Castillo.
Law
The proponent of expert testimony must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that an expert is qualified and that the opinions are helpful, sufficiently grounded, and reliably derived and applied. Experience-based opinions must explain how the...
150 Months in Prison for Tax Fraud
Post 4846
Posted on September 17, 2026 by Barry Zalma
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/g8rh3JBX and https://lnkd.in/gmkdy-9C, In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.
FACTS
In United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, United States Of America v. Thomas Addaquay, Nos. 25-10609, 25-10611, United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit (September 9, 2026) the Eleventh Circuit affirmed all challenged convictions, the 150-month aggregate sentence, and the challenged $4,123,474.55 restitution award.
FACTS
Thomas Addaquay controlled United Consolidated Accounting and Business Services (UC), nominally a check-cashing business.
The government proved a three-stage tax-refund scheme that converted the resulting refund checks into usable funds through ...
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Post 5489
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Fraudster Refuses to Answer Questions About His Alleged Fraud
See the full video at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr and at https://lnkd.in/gvicAMDr
In Great American Insurance Co. v. Gemstone Property Management, LLC, et al., No. 23-cv-9100 (LJL), United States District Court, S.D. New York (September 8, 2026) Great American Insurance Company alleged that it was defrauded through a scheme in which Subin Associates, LLP recruited individuals to stage construction-site injuries, arranged unnecessary medical treatment and litigation funding, and pursued fraudulent personal-injury claims.
Luis Manuel Garcia Salcedo, resulted in a $6 million settlement. Non-party Jose Hernandez allegedly worked as an assistant manager at Subin, operated Hernandez Associates, and owned litigation-funding companies that shared office space with Subin and provided services to its clients.
After Great American ...
Denial Of Mental Health Diversion And Probation Condition Were Affirmed
Posted on October 9, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Post 4860
In The People v. Nicholas Daniel Stiles, A173483, A173646, California Court of Appeals, First District, Second Division (September 29, 2026) Nicholas Daniel Stiles pleaded no contest to one count of insurance fraud arising from his purchase of automobile insurance after a June 2021 collision, and to grand theft arising from an April 2024 incident at a 7-Eleven.
In both cases, the trial court suspended imposition of sentence and placed him on two years’ probation. Before the pleas, Stiles sought mental health diversion in both matters and filed a written motion seeking substitute appointed counsel. The diversion applications were denied, and the court never held a hearing on the motion.
LAW
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If Grounds For Dismissal Are Apparent From The Face Of The Complaint, A Court May Also Dismiss The Case on The Court’s Own Motion
Posted on October 5, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Pro Se Plaintiff Failed to Make a Short and Plain Statement
Post 4856
In Tak Lun Ng v. United Financial Casualty Company, No. 26-cv-03136-LJC, United States District Court, N.D. California (September 28, 2026) Tak Lun Ng, proceeding pro se, sued United Financial Casualty Company over a March 2, 2021 automobile accident and the insurer’s March 24, 2021 refusal to pay him.
He appeared to assert breach of contract, fraud, negligence, premises liability, product liability, and related theories. United removed the action from state court and moved to dismiss.
Ng missed that deadline but later filed several documents, including a motion for leave to amend, all of which the court reviewed.
LAW
Under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must provide a short and plain statement containing enough factual matter to state a facially plausible...
If Grounds For Dismissal Are Apparent From The Face Of The Complaint, A Court May Also Dismiss The Case on The Court’s Own Motion
Posted on October 5, 2026 by Barry Zalma
Pro Se Plaintiff Failed to Make a Short and Plain Statement
Post 4856
In Tak Lun Ng v. United Financial Casualty Company, No. 26-cv-03136-LJC, United States District Court, N.D. California (September 28, 2026) Tak Lun Ng, proceeding pro se, sued United Financial Casualty Company over a March 2, 2021 automobile accident and the insurer’s March 24, 2021 refusal to pay him.
He appeared to assert breach of contract, fraud, negligence, premises liability, product liability, and related theories. United removed the action from state court and moved to dismiss.
Ng missed that deadline but later filed several documents, including a motion for leave to amend, all of which the court reviewed.
LAW
Under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a complaint must provide a short and plain statement containing enough factual matter to state a facially plausible...
