Commonwealth v. Scolieri
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
813 A.2d 672 (2002)
- Written by Kaitlin Pomeroy-Murphy, JD
Facts
Sixteen-year-old Joshua Fosnight met Joseph Scolieri (defendant) through a friend at the Econo Lodge Bar. Scolieri sold Fosnight alcohol from the bar, but at no point ever confirmed his age by checking his identification. A few months later, Scolieri gave Fosnight a bottle of vodka in exchange for $30. Scolieri was arrested for furnishing alcohol to a minor. The trial court found that Fosnight looked older than his age, and that the commonwealth (plaintiff) had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Scolieri knew Fosnight was underage. Despite this, Scolieri was convicted. The court held that all the commonwealth had to prove under the statute was that Scolieri knowingly and intentionally furnished alcohol to a person, they did not need to prove that he knew the person was under the age of 21. The superior court affirmed the judgement, and Scolieri appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Newman, J.)
Dissent (Saylor, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,400 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
