Q: My husband has multiple drug charges. Many are the same charges multiple times. We just want to know what the PA law is against stacking of charges. (Pittsburgh, PA)

A: A judge can stack or run what is called run “consecutive”, each count on a Criminal Information. However, many crimes which contain the same elements and arise out of the same event, merge for sentencing, and therefore the judge can combine the sentence on more than one charge for sentencing purposes. I would have to look at the charges to opine as to which charges merge.