358 Pa. Super. 494 - Commonwealth v. Leonhart’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

23 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Leonhart, supra, on which appellant also relies, dealt with a guilty plea to a charge of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person less than sixteen years of age. The defendant was then sentenced under the mandatory sentencing provision of 42 Pa.C.S. § 9718, Sentences for offenses against infant persons. The Leonhart Court noted it did not find any authority to support a requirement that notice of the penalty provisions of section 9718 be given to a defendant prior to sentencing. However, the court noted that in three other sections of the mandatory sentencing scheme, including section 9712, Sentences for offenses committed with firearms, at issue instantly, notice prior to sentencing was required for identical mandatory sentences of five years total confinement. By analogy, the Leonhart Court concluded notice was required in that case to conform to the requirement of a uniform and harmonious sentencing structure. The Court reviewed the Reagan decision and compared the similarities in both the recidivist provisions of 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731 and the notice provisions of the mandatory sentencing statutes, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9712, 9713, Sentences for offenses committed on public transportation, and 9714, Sentences for second and subsequent offenses, before concluding, “[w]ere we to hold Reagan applicable to the instant case, we note that the Commonwealth would have had to apprise appellant of its intention to proceed under section 9718 even before appellant’s plea had been ente”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Zorn

2. “distinguishable from those prosecutions under section 9712 (sentences for offenses committed with fire arms); section 9713 (sentences for offenses committed on public transportation); section 9714 (sentence for second and subsequent offenses); and section 9715 (life imprisonment for homicide). In each of the above, notice of the prosecution’s attempt to have the court impose the mandatory sentence is required prior to sentencing because at the time of sentencing the Commonwealth must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, at section 9712, that the person visibly possessed a firearm during the commission of the offense (even though it is not an element of the crime); at section 9713, that the offense was committed on or about a public transportation vehicle or facility; at section 9714, a prior conviction for crimes of violence (which could not be admissible at trial); and at section 9715, a prior conviction of voluntary manslaughter or murder (which is not admissible at trial). Since no opportunity exists at trial for a defendant to enter a defense to those matters, due process requires that he be given notice of the proof to be presented so that he can prepare a defense. In section 9718, the age of the child is inherent in the proof of the case in chief, and if this is not correctly presented it can be disputed routinely and in due course. Therefore, the requirement for notice, properly incorporated in section 9712, 9713, 9714 and 9715, effectuate due process, but are to”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 414 Pa. Super. 282 - Commonwealth v. Boyles

3. “The record of the guilty plea colloquy is barren of any reference to or notice of the applicability of a mandatory minimum penalty, generally, or to the intention of proceeding, at sentencing, under § 9718. Likewise, the sentencing transcript reveals that the prosecutor only introduced the applicability of § 9718 near the end of the proceedings, taking appellant, his counsel and the trial court by surprise. Even appellant’s pre-sentence report is devoid of any reference to the applicability of any mandatory minimum sentencing provision. This lack of notice deprives appellant of the right to weigh the alternatives of going to trial versus entering a guilty plea, Commonwealth v. Shaffer, supra [ 498 Pa. 342 , 446 A.2d 591 (1982) ], because of the real possibility, apparent from the instant record, that he was misled or acted pursuant to inaccurate or incorrect information.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 414 Pa. Super. 282 - Commonwealth v. Boyles