2013 Pa. Super. 30 - Commonwealth v. Jackson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 1 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The leading case on the sufficiency of a 302 warrant is In re J.M., 556 Pa. 63 , 726 A.2d 1041 (1999). Our Supreme Court held therein that the standard for evaluating the validity of such documents is whether reasonable grounds exist to believe that a person is severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment, a standard that is “clearly less exacting than the probable cause standard.” Id. at 1049. Such a warrant may be based upon hearsay “in light of the emergency nature, therapeutic purpose and short duration” of a section 302 commitment. Id. at 1046-47 n. 9. The “guiding inquiry” is whether, “when viewing the surrounding facts and circumstances, a reasonable person in the position of the applicant for a section 7302 warrant could have concluded that an individual was severely mentally disabled and in need of immediate treatment.” Id. The issue of whether allegations in an application were sufficient to establish an act in furtherance of a threat to commit harm was addressed by this Court in In re R.D., 739 A.2d 548, 555 (Pa.Super.1999). We held therein that an elderly woman’s act of picking up her cane in an effort to hit another, together with verbal threats of harm, constituted an “act in furtherance of the threat to commit harm,” as contemplated by the statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2015 Pa. Super. 59 - Commonwealth v. Smerconish