Commonwealth v. Walczak

KELLY, Judge:

In this appeal, we are called upon to determine whether the Common Pleas Court correctly ruled that appellant’s prior acquittal of the offenses of speeding 1 and passing in a no-passing zone 2 by a district justice were nullities where the district justice elicited evidence from appellant but conducted the hearing in the absence of the state trooper who issued the summary traffic citations. We hold that appellant’s subsequent retrial by the Common Pleas Court for the same traffic offenses violated appellant’s double jeopardy rights. Hence, we reverse judgment of sentence and…