2008 Pa. Super. 252 - Commonwealth v. Foster’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “any person who is convicted in any court of this Commonwealth of a crime of violence as defined in section 9714(g) (relating to sentences for second and subsequent offenses), shall, if the person visibly possessed a firearm or a replica of a firearm, whether or not the firearm or replica was loaded or functional, that placed the victim in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury, during the commission of the offense, be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least five years of total confinement notwithstanding any other provision of this title or other statute to the contrary.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Foster · 2009 Pa. Super. 131 - Commonwealth v. Brougher

2. “(a) Right to appeal. — -The defendant or the Commonwealth may appeal as of right the legality of the sentence. (b) Allowance of appeal. — The defendant or the Commonwealth may file a petition for allowance of appeal of the discretionary aspects of a sentence for a felony or a misdemeanor to the appellate court that has initial jurisdiction for such appeals. Allowance of appeal may be granted at the discretion of the appellate court where it appears that there is a substantial question that the sentence imposed is not appropriate under this chapter.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Foster

3. “[The Superior Court has] established the principle that the term “illegal sentence” is a term of art that our Courts apply narrowly, to a relatively small class of cases. This class of cases includes: (1) claims that the sentence fell “outside of the legal parameters prescribed by the applicable statute”; (2) claims involving merger/double jeopardy; and (3) claims implicating the rule in [Apprendi ]. These claims implicate the fundamental legal authority of the court to impose the sentence that it did.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Foster