2016 Pa. Super. 257 - Commonwealth v. Hicks’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The admission of evidence is solely within the discretion of the trial court, and a trial court’s evidentiary rulings will be reversed on appeal only upon an abuse of that discretion.” Commonwealth v. Reid, 627 Pa. 151 , 99 A.3d 470, 493 (2014). An abuse of discretion will not be found based on a mere error of judgment, but rather occurs where the court has reached a conclusion that overrides or misapplies the law, or where the judgment exercised is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill-will. Commonwealth v. Davido, [630] Pa. [217], 106 A.3d 611, 645 (2014).”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2017 Pa. Super. 225 - Commonwealth v. Rich · Commonwealth v. Sebolka

2. “At the outset, we note that the weight attributed to the evidence is a matter exclusively for the fact finder, who is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence and to determine the credibility of the witnesses. The grant of a new trial is not warranted because of a mere conflict in the testimony and must have a stronger foundation than a reassessment of the credibility of witnesses. Rather, the role of the trial judge is to determine that, notwithstanding all of the facts, certain facts are so clearly of greater weight, that to ignore them or to give them equal weight with all of the facts is to deny justice. An appellate court's purview: is extremely limited and is confined to whether the trial court abused its discretion in finding that the jury verdict did not shock its conscience. Thus, appellate review of a weight claim consists of a review of the trial court's exercise of discretion, not a review of the underlying question of whether the verdict is against the weight of the evidence. An appellate court may not reverse a verdict unless it is so contrary to the evidence as to shock one's sense of justice. [T]he trial court's denial of a motion for a new trial based on a weight of the evidence claim is the least assailable of its rulings.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Johnson · Commonwealth v. Roane

3. “Evidence of a defendant’s distinct crimes are not generally admissible against a defendant solely to show his bad character or his propensity for committing criminal acts, as proof of the commission of one offense is not generally proof of the commission of another. However, this general proscription against admission of a defendant’s distinct bad acts is subject to numerous exceptions if the evidence is relevant for some legitimate evidentiary reason and not merely to prejudice the defendant by showing him to be a person of bad character. Exceptions that have been recognized as legitimate bases for admitting evidence of a defendant’s distinct crimes include, but are not limited to: (1) motive; (2) intent; (3) absence of mistake or accident; (4) a common scheme, plan or design such that proof of one crime naturally tends to prove the others; (5) to establish the identity of the accused where there is such a logical connection between the crimes that proof of one will naturally tend to show that the accused is the person who committed the other; (6) to impeach the credibility of a defendant who testifies in his trial; (7) situations where defendant’s prior criminal history had been used by him to threaten or intimidate the victim; (8) situations where the distinct crimes were part of a chain or sequence of events which formed the history of the case and were part of its natural development (sometimes called “res ges-tae” exception). Additional exceptions are recognized when th”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2017 Pa. Super. 261 - Commonwealth v. Yocolano