353 Pa. Super. 207 - Commonwealth v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The essential elements of robbery (as charged here) are that a theft be committed and that there be a threat of imminent serious bodily injury. [18 Pa. C.S.[A.] § 3701(a)(1)(h) ]. Thus, the harm against which the statute protects is the deprivation of property by threatened or actual physical harm which may not involve any instrument of crime. The possession of implements of a crime charge, however, requires the possession of certain objects whose primary use is the commission of a crime and the intent to commit such a crime. By including these elements in the crime, the legislature has indicated that the statute was enacted to protect against the threat that one who possesses certain objects will use them to commit a crime. See Commonwealth v. Crocker, 256 Pa.Super. 63 , 389 A.2d 601 (1978). The Commonwealth’s interest in the right of citizens to be free from the threat that an implement of crime will be used to accomplish a crime is separate from the Commonwealth’s interest in protecting individuals from having their property-rights jeopardized while being threatened with serious bodily injury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2008 Pa. Super. 69 - Commonwealth v. Weigle

2. “The merger doctrine does not ask us to adhere rigidly to a “same offense” test in searching for legislative intent. Nor, on the other hand, is it concerned exclusively with the physical facts that must be proven to make out various crimes. Instead, it obliges us to take a broader view of the purposes of criminal legislation and the diverse evils which particular enactments were meant to protect against____ In order to find that separate statutory offenses merge, we must therefore determine not only that the crimes arose out of the same criminal act, transaction, or episode, but also that the statutes defining the crimes charged were directed to substantially the same harm or evil. If we do not take both of these steps, we fail in our duty to effectuate the legislative mandate in carrying out statutory punishments.”

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