23 Va. App. 394 - Shears v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1996
Citation profile
87 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 89 later decisions — most recently December 2016 · most notably 28 Va. App. 187 - Timbers v. Commonwealth (1998), 25 Va. App. 702 - Quinn v. Commonwealth (1997)
87 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 Blockburger v. United States · Ornelas v. United States · Brown v. Ohio · Hill v. California · Lister v. United States
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 89 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““When considering multiple punishments for a single transaction, the controlling factor is legislative intent.” The legislature “may determine the appropriate ‘unit of prosecution’ and set the penalty for separate violations.” Therefore although multiple offenses may be the “same,” an accused may be subjected to legislatively “authorized cumulative punishments.” It is judicial punishment in excess of legislative intent which offends the double jeopardy clause.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“It is uncontroverted that the detectives were vested with the authority of the warrant for Boyce when defendant was arrested at the informant's trailer. The informer was instructed to telephone Boyce, an individual known to police as a drug dealer reputed for quick response to solicitations. Within minutes after the informer advised the detectives that he had contacted Boyce as directed, defendant arrived and entered the trailer. The detectives had previously seen neither defendant nor Boyce, but defendant's appearance was consistent with Boyce's "general description," and his comments were suggestive of an impending narcotics transaction. Under such circumstances, the police clearly acted both in good faith and reasonably in arresting defendant, as Boyce, albeit in error.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“In enacting Code § 18.2-248, the General Assembly declared it “unlawful for any person to ... sell, ... or possess with intent to ... sell ... a controlled substance.” Code § 18.2-248(A). Code § 18.2-248(C) prescribes the punishment for “any person who violates this section with respect to a controlled substance classified in Schedule I or II.” The gravamen of the offense is clearly possession of the specified drug with the requisite intent. Thus, each distinguishable . incident of the offending conduct constitutes a “unit of prosecution” for violation of the statute.”
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.