289 Pa. Super. 104 - Commonwealth v. Ross’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We hold, in line with our fellow jurisdictions across the land, that, following conviction, trial counsel must, in order to be effective, go one step further in order to protect his client’s right of appeal: either by filing the appeal, by recommending to the client other counsel to handle the appeal, or by presenting to the court a motion to withdraw from the case. In the case of withdrawal, the attorney should look for guidance to the Code of Professional Responsibility, and should, of course, immediately notify the client of such action in time for the client to secure other counsel. As ABA Standard 4-8.2 clearly states, however, the decision whether to appeal must be the defendant’s own choice. Therefore, the defendant must take affirmative steps to ensure that his desire to appeal is communicated to his attorney, and that he communicates as well his authorization that the attorney may file an appeal on his behalf.”

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

2. “may include perfecting the appeal, even though arrangements may have been made for other counsel to represent the defendant before the appellate court.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Harvey v. State