241 Pa. Super. 62 - Commonwealth v. Throckmorton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

38 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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The prosecution, however, argues that appellant has waived his right to raise this issue because no objection was made to the admission of the statements during trial. An objection at trial, however, would have been a useless act. Rule 323(j) of the Pa.R. of Crim.P. states: “If the court determines that the evidence is admissible such determination shall be final, conclusive and binding at trial except upon a showing of evidence which was theretofore unavailable, but nothing herein shall prevent a defendant from opposing such evidence at trial upon any ground except its admissibility.” (Emphasis added.) Under the above rule the determination made pretrial is final, conclusive, and binding at trial. The trial judge cannot overrule the admissibility determination made by the pretrial suppression judge. Accordingly, the appellant cannot be said to have waived an issue which he was precluded from raising during the trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 349 Pa. Super. 456 - Commonwealth v. Burchard

2. ““[i]f we preclude the defendant this opportunity, his alternative remedies are much more cumbersome and time-consuming. If the defendant is convicted, and if he retains new counsel, he may allege on appeal that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file timely suppression motions. Commonwealth v. Dancer, 460 Pa. 95 , 331 A.2d 435 (1975). If the record is insufficient for us to decide the merits of the claim, we would remand the case for a hearing on ineffectiveness under Commonwealth v. Twiggs, 460 Pa. 105 , 331 A.2d 440 (1975). If the trial court decides against the defendant, he would inevitably take a second appeal to this Court. On the other hand, if either this Court or the trial court decides that the ineffectiveness claim is meritorious, the defendant would be entitled to a second new trial. It is hard to conceive of a more wasteful expenditure of judicial time.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Dobson

3. “Rule 323 does not prohibit the litigation of a suppression motion after the grant of a new trial if there has been no prior determination of the issue. Nothing in the Rule limits the defendant to filing suppression motions prior to his first trial; the Rule simply requires that suppression motions be filed after the case has been returned to court and ten days prior to the beginning of the trial session in which the case is listed for trial, or, in districts having continuous trial sessions, ten days prior to the date of trial. Thus, Rule 323(b), by its terms, could equally refer to both a retrial and an initial trial, provided that the issue has not yet been determined. Rule 323(j); Pa.R. Crim.P.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 291 Pa. Super. 133 - Commonwealth v. Taggart