2005 Pa. Super. 157 - Commonwealth v. Chernosky’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 state decisions

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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When the Commonwealth appeals from a suppression order, we follow a clearly defined standard of review and consider only the evidence from the defendant’s witnesses together with the evidence of the prosecution that, when read in the context of the entire record, remains uncontradicted. The suppression court’s findings of fact bind an appellate court if the record supports those findings. The suppression court’s conclusions of law, however, are not binding on an appellate court, whose duty is to determine if the suppression court properly applied the law to the facts.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2006 Pa. Super. 312 - Commonwealth v. Wagstaff · 2012 Pa. Super. 251 - Commonwealth v. Miller

2. “(a) General rule.-- Any duly employed municipal police officer who is within this Commonwealth, but beyond the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction, shall have the power and authority to enforce the laws of this Commonwealth or otherwise perform the functions of that office as if enforcing those laws or performing those functions within the territorial limits of his primary jurisdiction in the following cases: * * * (5) Where the officer is on official business and views an offense, or has probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed, and makes a reasonable effort to identify himself as a police officer and which offense is a felony, misdemeanor, breach of the peace or other act which presents an immediate clear and present danger to persons or property.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Beeker · Commonwealth v. Bergamasco

3. “12. Aside from asserting that [Appellee] did not yield the right-of-way, Officer Burke did not observe [Appellee] driving erratically, or in any other manner indicating that she was driving under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance, either before or after approaching the intersection. (Id. at 12-13). 13. At the Omnibus hearing, the Commonwealth introduced no evidence regarding the dimensions of the intersection, or how fast either car was moving in the intersection during this encounter. However, based upon Officer Burke's testimony, the Court finds that neither Officer Burke nor [Appellee] were traveling at a speed capable of causing an accident that would result in physical injuries to the vehicles' occupants as both Officer Burke and [Appellee]'s vehicles stopped without any extraordinary measures being noted, i.e. , Officer Burke did not testify that he or [Appellee] swerved, slammed on their brakes, skid, or were otherwise not in control of their vehicles. 14. Based upon the totality of Officer Burke's testimony, and particularly given the above finding of the final positions of the parties' vehicles relative to one another, the [c]ourt finds it more likely than not that [Appellee]'s vehicle would have turned left behind Officer Burke's patrol car had he not stopped in the intersection. 15. As [Appellee] stopped her vehicle in the intersection in response to Officer Burke unexpectedly stopping his patrol car in the middle of the intersection while activati”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Bergamasco