357 Pa. Super. 395 - Commonwealth v. Frye’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We must uphold the Commonwealth’s position that the summary requirement is meant to “accurately describe the gravamen” of the offense rather than lay out a blow-by-blow description of events. The Commonwealth v. Weed case, [3 Pa.D & C 3rd 151 (Cumberland Co. 1977)] made the following observation in reference to this: Although a citation must include a specific section of the statute violated, it need only show a summary of the facts sufficient to advise the defendant of the nature of the offense charged, notifying him of the pending prosecution and affording him a chance to defend himself ... This lenient description of the offense is all that is necessary because the defendant must be served upon the issuance of the citation, giving hint immediate notification of the alleged infraction when he is best able to observe and recall facts and circumstances surrounding the incident ... Thus, we conclude that the description of the offense on the citation is adequate so long as it advises the defendant of the nature of the charge.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 451 Pa. Super. 1 - Commonwealth v. Neitzel

2. “No person shall drive a vehicle on a highway in any race, speed competition or contest, drag race or acceleration contest, test of physical endurance, exhibition of speed or acceleration, or for the purpose of making a speed record, and no person shall in any manner participate in any such race, competition, contest, test or exhibition.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 392 Pa. Super. 541 - Commonwealth v. Ward