HOBIE CRYSTLE LAW
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"The sooner you call the more we can help"
717-393-0600
143 N. Duke St. Lancaster, PA 17602
Hobie Crystle, Esq.
About Our Attorneys
Hobie Crystle, Esq.
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Mr. Crystle has extensive jury trial experience in both Lancaster and Philadelphia and is a member of both the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys and National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In 2014, he was elected as a Director by the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
Hobie Crystle was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in Lancaster. Mr. Crystle graduated from John Piersol McCaskey High School. He then attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he majored in Latin American Studies and attained fluency in Spanish.
After graduating from Wesleyan in 1985, Mr. Crystle worked as a criminal investigator for the Superior Court in Washington, D.C. for two years. Mr. Crystle enrolled in the Dickinson School of Law in 1989 and graduated in 1992. At Dickinson, he co-founded the Public Interest Law Fund, a group dedicated to providing debt relief for students and young lawyers working in the public interest. During that time he clerked for the Public Defenders’ Offices in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the Manhattan Office of the New York Legal Aid Society, and the Defender’s Association of Philadelphia. He was a member of the award-winning Constitutional Law Moot Court team of 1991.
Upon graduation, Mr. Crystle moved to Philadelphia where he practiced with the Defender’s Association until 1996 when he returned to Lancaster. After a year and a half in the Public Defender’s Office in Lancaster County, Mr. Crystle opened the Law Office of Hobie Crystle. That office has grown into the current firm of Crystle-Allen Law, LLC. Mr. Crystle has served as a member of the Board of the Lancaster Bar Association Foundation since 2008.
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Mr. Crystle's Notable Cases
The following is a sampling of the many successful defenses Attorney Crystle has had the privilege to earn. Criminal defense practice is generally about damage control – making the best of a poor circumstance and negotiating an appropriate compromise. However, when the Commonwealth refuses to negotiate and their case is tested by trial before a jury, Attorney Crystle has shown he has the ability to withstand the prosecution and achieve the best result of all – not guilty!
Homicide Charges Successfully Defended
The client was charged with first-degree murder in a shooting on South Ann St. in Lancaster in 1999. The client was alleged to have fired from the ground floor of a building, behind some bushes, at several people fleeing the scene. The shots resulted in one fatality. The Court was persuaded to find the client not guilty through a strong argument that the defendant was never outside, never fired a shot, and was instead the victim of an assault.
Attempted Rape Charges Successfully Defended
The client was charged with rape and indecent assault from an incident alleged to have occurred in the bathroom of a bar. After a four-day jury trial, the client was acquitted of the rape charges and sentenced to probation for the indecent assault.
Burglary and Aggravated Assault Charges Successfully Defended
The client was charged with breaking into the home of another and assaulting the occupants with a hammer. After a four-day jury trial, he was found not guilty of those most serious charges by successfully arguing that he was, in fact, the victim of an assault and that the other parties had invited him into the home.
Aggravated Assault Against a Police Officer Successfully Defended
The client was charged with assaulting a police officer. After a three-day jury trial, the client was acquitted of the felony charges. The case involved the testimony of three different police officers and the client. Attorney Crystle was able to undermine the credibility of these officers by highlighting the inconsistencies in each officer’s version of events as well as inconsistencies between the three officers’ stories.
Successful Appeal – Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
The client had been convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for drug crimes. Hired to take the appeal, Attorney Crystle successfully argued that the trial attorney had made errors so egregious that the client did not receive constitutionally effective assistance of counsel – the conviction was reversed!
Motion to Suppress Granted
66 grams of cocaine suppressed as the fruit of an illegal search. Attorney Crystle successfully argued that the police, in the course of executing a search warrant, failed to comply with the rules of criminal procedure and the evidence was thrown out of court. The client’s charges were withdrawn by the Commonwealth.
Aggravated Indecent Assault Case Dismissed
The client had been charged with various serious felony sexual assault charges. Attorney Crystle successfully defended spurious procedural challenges made by the Commonwealth for 2½ years, in the Common Pleas Court, the Superior Court, and in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. The result was a dismissal of all charges for the Commonwealth’s failure to comply with the speedy trial rule. Checkmate.
Motion to Suppress Granted
431 grams of cocaine and illegal firearms suppressed as Attorney Crystle successfully argued that the police stopped a car without any reasonable suspicion of criminal activity and that the ensuing encounter became an illegal detention. This is a recurring scenario as law enforcement becomes more aggressive in the war on drugs and seeks to erode the personal rights of the citizenry in the name of public safety. The Constitution won! Evidence suppressed, charges dismissed.