16 Va. App. 260 - Mason v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
25 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 25 later decisions — most recently January 2012 · most notably Thomas v. Commonwealth (1998), 16 Va. App. 542 - Able v. Commonwealth (1993)
25 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Ansell v. Commonwealth · United States v. Abreu · 3 Va. App. 531 - Crews v. Commonwealth · Singer v. United States · 59 Md. App. 97 - Garrett v. State
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A. Except as authorized in the Drug Control Act (§ 54.1-3400 et seq.), it shall be unlawful for any person to manufacture, sell, give, distribute, or possess with intent to manufacture, sell, give or distribute a controlled substance or an imitation controlled substance. . .. C. Any person who violates this section with respect to a controlled substance classified in Schedule I or II shall upon conviction be imprisoned for not less than five nor more than forty years and fined not more than $500,000. Upon a second or subsequent conviction of such a violation, any such person may, in the discretion of the court or jury imposing the sentence, be sentenced to imprisonment for life or for any period not less than five years and be fined not more than $500,000.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“The purpose of the enhanced punishment provision of Code § 18.2-248(C) is to halt and punish those who repeatedly sell drugs. To construe the statute as [appellant] suggests would enable an offender to engage in a spree of drug sales over an extended period of time prior to his apprehension and to receive the status of a first offender as to each violation. Such an interpreta tion would be contrary to the clear legislative intent and unreasonably restrictive.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“Concededly, because [Code § 18.2-328] is penal in nature, it must be strictly construed, and any ambiguity or reasonable doubt as to its meaning must be resolved in [appellant's] favor.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.