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1. Can you tell me how to appeal a decision of the Summary Court?

A decision of the court may be appealed by making a written notice of your intent to appeal to the other party(ies) involved to the Summary Court and the Common Pleas court. You must pay a filing fee to Common Pleas. You must make written notice within 30 days, if it was a civil case and 10 days if it is a criminal case.

2. Can you explain an "expungement?"

An expungement is destroying or sealing of your records of a criminal charge in magistrates’ court where you were found not guilty, the charge was dismissed or not prosecuted. Cases that fall in this category and were disposed of prior to June 2, 2009, can be expunged but the party will need to make a written request to the appropriate magistrate court. Cases disposed of after June 2, 2009, are processed as the disposition is entered into the computer system in accordance with the rules governing the magistrates’ courts.

3. I have heard about a program called PTI. What is PTI? Can I enroll in the program?

PTI is an abbreviation for the Pre-Trial Intervention program. Defendants may only enroll in this program upon the recommendation of the court, officer, victim and attorney involved. There is an enrollment fee and participants are required to attend counseling sessions and complete a prescribed amount of community service hours. Successful completion of this program qualifies the participant to have an expungement of the criminal record for which the participant was enrolled. The Magistrate’s Court completes the applications and forwards it to the PTI office for completion. You may contact any office for further details or contact the pre-trial intervention office in the Solicitor’s Office.