2008 Pa. Super. 288 - Commonwealth v. Baker’s Empirical Analysis
2008
Citation profile
30 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 30 later decisions — most recently December 2025 · most notably In re Activision Blizzard, Inc. (2014), 2009 Pa. Super. 226 - Commonwealth v. Coppedge (2009)
30 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 Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera · Mims v. Browning Manufacturing · Commonwealth v. Widmer · King v. Pennsylvania · Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Raiford
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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“No crimes shall merge for sentencing purposes unless the crimes arise from a single criminal act and all of the statutory elements of one offense are included in the statutory elements of the other offense. Where crimes merge for sentencing purposes, the court may sentence the defendant only on the higher graded offense.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“The concept of merger has been a somewhat contentious one. In 2002, the Pennsylvania Legislature enacted Section 9765 of the Judicial Code, which directs that: No crimes shall merge for sentencing purposes unless the crimes arise from a single criminal act and all of the statutory elements of one offense are included in the statutory elements of the other offense.... 42 Pa.C.S. § 9765. Despite the enactment of Section 9765, the doctrine of merger remained a thorny issue. In Commonwealth v. Jones, 590 Pa. 356 , 912 A.2d 815 (2006), a case involving á criminal act which predated the effective date of Section 9765, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was asked to determine whether it was error to sentence the appellant to consecutive sentences for burglary and criminal trespass where one act was involved and the same facts established nearly identical elements for both crimes. In addressing this question, Jones discusses the interplay between double jeopardy principles, Supreme Court caselaw, and Section 9765. In authoring the lead opinion, Justice Castille adopted a “practical, hybrid approach” that requires courts to “evaluate the statutory elements [of each crime], with an eye to the specific allegations leveled in the case.” Justices Cappy and Baer joined Justice Castille’s lead opinion. Justice Newman, joined by Justice Eakin, wrote a dissent favoring the adoption of a “statutory elements” test in accordance with Section 9765. Justice Saylor generally agreed with Justice Newman’”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“The factors a court utilizes to determine, under the totality of the circumstances, whether a detention has become so coercive as to constitute the functional equivalent of arrest include: the basis for the detention; its length; its location; whether the suspect was transported against his or her will, how far, and why; whether restraints were used; whether the law enforcement officer showed, threatened or used force; and the investigative methods employed to confirm or dispel suspicions. The fact that a police investigation has focused on a particular individual does not automatically trigger "custody," thus requiring Miranda warnings.”
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.