Hobie Crystle | Lancaster Criminal Defense Lawyer

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.

Position	Organization	Location	Duration
Partner	Crystle-Allen Law, L.L.C.	Lancaster, PA	Present

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
Dickinson School of Law, Penn State University	J.D.	Law School	1992
Wesleyan University	Bachelors		1985

State / Court	Date
Pennsylvania	1992

• Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers | Director | 2014 - Present
  Lancaster County Bar Association | Board Member | 2008 - Present
  Pennsylvania Bar Association | Member | 1992 - Present
  Lancaster Bar Association | Criminal Defense Section | Chair | 1999 - 2005

• Peer Review Rated | Martindale-Hubbell | 2017
  Excellence in Trial Advocacy | Defender Association of Philadelphia | 1995

• 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.

• 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.

• 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!

• Dickinson Journal of International Law - Westlaw | When Rights Fall in a Forest | 1991

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	8:30 am - 5:00 pm	8:30 am - 5:00 pm	8:30 am - 5:00 pm	8:30 am - 5:00 pm	8:30 am - 5:00 pm

Herbert Moss Crystle has been a Premium Member since November 17, 2020.
Lawyers with longer memberships tend to have more experience so we use the Membership date to help prioritize lawyer listings on search pages.

Verified Credentials	Date Verified
(1992) Licensed as Attorney in Pennsylvania. Verified with Pennsylvania Bar Association.	November 17, 2020

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