248 Pa. Super. 184 - Commonwealth v. Clark’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Appellant’s trial was originally set for November 12, 1974, well within the 270 day period. The prosecutor and appellant’s counsel appeared in court that day but appellant did not. Appellant’s absence was unexplained, and when the prosecutor suggested that appellant was a fugitive, the court agreed and declared him a fugitive. In fact, however, appellant was in jail in the same county, under [unrelated] charges____ Appellant had received notice of his November 12 trial date but had made no effort to inform his counsel, the prosecutor, or the warden regarding his required appearance in court for trial. Although there was some evidence that someone in the District Attorney’s office knew that appellant had been rearrested and was in jail, evidently the prosecutor in charge of the present case did not.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 317 Pa. Super. 412 - Commonwealth v. Colon

2. “Although it is axiomatic that “it is not the defendant’s duty to bring himself to trial,” (citation omitted), it does not follow from this axiom that a defendant may hide himself away in some crevice of the criminal justice system. To declare appellant a “fugitive” was unwarranted, given the fact that he was in custody. He may nevertheless have been “unavailable." (emphasis added).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 348 Pa. Super. 566 - Commonwealth v. Herbert