2001 Pa. Super. 198 - Commonwealth v. Thompson’s Empirical Analysis
2001
Citation profile
16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 16 later decisions — most recently January 2020
16 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 Bruton v. United States · Francis v. United States · Commonwealth v. Lark · Commonwealth v. Fortune · Commonwealth v. MacOlino
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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Constructive possession is a legal fiction, a pragmatic construct to deal with the realities of criminal law enforcement. Constructive possession is an inference arising from a set of facts that possession of the contraband was more likely than not. We have defined constructive possession as “conscious dominion.” (citation omitted). We subsequently defined “conscious dominion” as “the power to control the contraband and the intent to exercise that control.” (citation omitted). To aid application, we have held that constructive possession may be established by the totality of the circumstances.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“In evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we must determine whether viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom, the trier of fact could have found that each and every element of the crimes charged was established beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Heistand, 454 Pa.Super. 482 , 685 A.2d 1026, 1028 (1996). The facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth need not preclude every possibility of innocence. However, any questions or doubts are to be resolved by the factfinder, unless the evidence is so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law, no probability of fact may be drawn from the circumstances. Commonwealth v. Morales, 447 Pa.Super. 491 , 669 A.2d 1003, 1005 (1996). The trier of fact is free to believe all, part or none of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Price, 416 Pa.Super. 23 , 610 A.2d 488, 489 (1992). “The standard is equally applicable to cases where the evidence is circumstantial rather than direct so long as the combination of the evidence links the accused to the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Commonwealth v. Swerdlow, 431 Pa.Super. 453 , 636 A.2d 1173, 1176 (1994). Commonwealth v. Thompson, 779 A.2d 1195, 1197 (Pa.Super.2001), appeal denied, 567 Pa. 760 , 790 A.2d 1016 (2001).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Under Pennsylvania law, [constructive possession is an inference arising from a set of facts that posses sion of the contraband was more likely than not. We have defined constructive possession as “conscious dominion.” We subsequently defined “conscious dominion” as the power to control the contraband and the intent to exercise that control. To aid application, we have held that constructive possession may be established by the totality of the circumstances.”
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.