404 Pa. Super. 169 - Commonwealth v. Ables’s Empirical Analysis
1991
Citation profile
36 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 36 later decisions — most recently October 2023 · most notably 420 Pa. Super. 266 - Commonwealth v. Gerulis (1992), 430 Pa. Super. 63 - Commonwealth v. Manchas (1993)
36 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Commonwealth v. Paquette · Commonwealth v. Lovette · Commonwealth v. Rhodes · Commonwealth v. Zapata · Bank v. Bank
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 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““[Forcible compulsion” as used in section 3121(1) includes not only physical force or violence but also moral, psychological or intellectual force used to compel a person to engage in sexual intercourse against that person’s will. Closely related to section 3121(1) is section 3121(2) which applies to the situation where “forcible compulsion” is not actually used but is threatened. That section uses the phrase “by threat of forcible compulsion that would prevent resistance by a person of reasonable resolution.” The Model Penal Code used the terminology “compels her to submit by any threat that would prevent resistance by a woman of ordinary resolution” and graded that offense as gross sexual imposition, a felony of the third degree. The Pennsylvania legislature rejected the concept that sexual intercourse compelled by “gross imposition” should be graded as a less serious offense and, therefore, enacted section 3121(2). By use of the phrase “person of reasonable resolution,” the legislature introduced an objective standard regarding the use of threats of forcible compulsion to prevent resistance (as opposed to actual application of “forcible compulsion.”) The determination of whether there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that an accused engaged in sexual intercourse by forcible compulsion (which we have defined to include “not only physical force or violence, but also moral, psychological or intellectual force used to compel a person to engage in”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“A new trial is required only when the trial court’s questioning is prejudicial, that is when it is of such a nature or substance or delivered in such a manner that it may reasonably be said to have deprived the defendant of a fair and impartial trial. It is always the right and sometimes the duty of the trial judge to interrogate witnesses. However, questioning from the bench should not show bias or feeling or be unduly protracted.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.