The person in Pennsylvania who is allegedly a fugitive from another state may be arrested with or without a warrant. This is pursuant to 42 Pa. C.S.A. Section 9134 and 9135. For the purpose of this act, there is no distinction between detainers based on parole violations and detainers based on criminal prosecutions. The accused must then be brought before a judge or magistrate with all practicable speed for a hearing to advise the accused of the charges, to ascertain if the accused is the person charged, and, if appropriate, to set bail. This is pursuant to 42 Pa. C.S.A Section 9136. The fugitive is entitled to bail except for offenses punishable by life imprisonment or death. The fugitive must then await a Governor's warrant from the Pennsylvania Governor.
The Governor may issue such warrants at the request of the executive authority of the state having jurisdiction. This is pursuant to the decision in Commonwealth ex rel. Coleman v. Cuyler of 1978. If the Governor's warrant does not arrive within 30 days of the arrest, the accused must either be released or recommitted for a period not to exceed another 60 days to await commencement of the action, as per 42 Pa. C.S.A Section 9138. A writ of habeaus corpus filed by a Lehigh County criminal lawyer is the proper relief if the commitment is excessive. However, when he governors warrant did not arrive within 30 days of arrest and hearing to recommit was not held until the 32nd day, the Superior Court held that the delay was minimal and the accused not entitled to relief. This is from the case of Commonwealth v. Murphy from 1975 and also Commonwealth v. Quackenbush from 1981 where a hearing held 34 days after an arrest constituted minimal delay. A 15 day delay after the permissible 90 day did not entitle a defendant to relief when the accused was serving a sentence on an unrelated case.