This program is eligible for 3 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 3.6 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.
Overview
The rules on vehicle search and seizure can be murky and difficult to understand.
Professor Bruce Antkowiak breaks down vehicle stops and searches law in Pennsylvania and shares strategies for defending your client, whether the legal issue is the stop of a motorist on the highway, a request by the officer for consent to search after such a stop, or a search of a car itself.
Professor Antkowiak walks you through:
- When vehicle searches are legal
- The warrant requirement, plain view doctrine, and fourth amendment
- The automobile exception based on probable cause
- Getting consent after the stop
- A deep dive into significant case law regarding traffic stops
Join us to gain practical strategies for suppressing unlawfully obtained evidence from vehicle searches.
Recorded in August 2025.
Faculty
Prof. Bruce A. Antkowiak, J.D., LL.D.
Bruce Antkowiak currently serves at St. Vincent College, Latrobe, Pennsylvania in a variety of capacities. He is Senior Counsel to the Archabbey and College, Professor of Law, Past Chair of the Criminology Department, and Pre-Law Advisor. He also teaches in the School’s Master of Science in Criminology Program. Along with his colleagues in the Criminology Department, he has helped launch a new Certificate in Legal Practice Program. He has presented numerous Legal Education Programs to attorneys across the Commonwealth. In May, 2011, St. Vincent awarded him an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree and honored him as Commencement speaker for the 2011 graduation ceremony. For nine years prior to coming to St. Vincent, Professor Antkowiak was a full-time faculty member at Duquesne Law School where he also advised the Law School’s Criminal Law Clinic and coached the Law School’s National Trial Moot Court Teams. In 2007 and 2011, he received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the graduating class of the Law School. In October, 2007, he was named the Association of American Law Schools Teacher of the Year at Duquesne Law School. Professor Antkowiak is the author of a major treatise on Pennsylvania Criminal Procedure, served for 11 years as the Editor and principal author of the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instructions – Criminal. He has published eleven law review articles in various journals across the country. Professor Antkowiak graduated with High Honors from Harvard Law School in 1977. In 1974, he graduated first in his class from St. Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, which honored him with the Alumnus of Distinction Award in 2002. Over his more than three decades as a practicing lawyer, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania and as a private practitioner concentrating his practice in the area of criminal defense in state and federal courts. He has tried a multitude of cases including homicides, white collar crime and narcotics related offenses. His appellate work includes numerous appearances before the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the Pennsylvania Supreme and Superior Courts.
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