Sweeny v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 13 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Manifestly [the] Code . . . was amended ... to obviate the necessity of having two troopers testify in every contested speeding case which involves the use of radar. It was the intention of the General Assembly to provide, in cases where any question arises as to the calibration or accuracy of any radio microwave or any other electrical device, that such accuracy could be shown by a certificate of the officers who conducted the tests of the device, and who had knowledge of its accuracy. The statute contemplates that the speed of motor vehicles may be checked by radar; that the results of such checks be accepted as prima facie evidence where speed is an issue; and that persons may be convicted on the certificates filed in accordance with the statute. However, the statute must be strictly construed and there should be a full compliance therewith if a certificate is to be used as evidence. In prosecutions for speeding arising through the use of radar, the accuracy of the radio microwave, or other electrical device which measures the speed of a vehicle, is critical, for it is the reading reflected by this device which brings about the arrest and the conviction of a defendant.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gray v. Commonwealth

2. “The speed of any motor vehicle may be checked by the use of radar .... The results of such checks shall be accepted as prima facie evidence of the speed of such motor vehicle in any court or legal proceeding where the speed of the motor vehicle is at issue. In any court or legal proceeding in which any question arises about the calibration or accuracy of any radar . . . device as defined in this section used to check the speed of any motor vehicle, a certificate, or a true copy thereof, showing the calibration or accuracy of the speedometer of any vehicle or of any tuning fork employed in calibrating or testing the device, and when and by whom the calibration was made, shall be admissible as evidence of the facts therein stated. No calibration or testing of such device shall be valid for longer than six months.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gray v. Commonwealth

3. ““In any court or legal proceedings in which any question arises as to the calibration or accuracy of any such radio microwave or other electrical device, a certificate, executed and signed by the officers calibrating or testing such device as to its accuracy as well as to the accuracy of the speedometer of any motor vehicle used in such test, and stating the time of such test, type of test and results of testing, shall be admissible when attested by one such officer who executed and signed it as evidence of the facts therein stated and the results of such testing.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Howell v. Commonwealth