441 Pa. Super. 584 - Commonwealth v. Rishel’s Empirical Analysis
1995
Citation profile
25 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 25 later decisions — most recently June 2025 · most notably 451 Pa. Super. 119 - Commonwealth v. Heberling (1996), 2015 Pa. Super. 160 - Commonwealth v. Jones (2015)
25 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 Barnes v. United States · McKelvey v. United States · Commonwealth v. Mikulan · Commonwealth v. Griscavage · Commonwealth v. Kohl
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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(a) Offense defined. — A person shall not drive, operate or be in actual physical control of the movement of any vehicle ... (5) if the amount of alcohol by weight in the blood of the person is 0.10% or greater at the time of a chemical test of a sample of the person’s breath, blood or urine, which same is: (i) obtained within three hours after the person drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle; or (a.l) Defense. — It shall be a defense to a prosecution under subsection (a)(5) if the person proves by a preponderance of the evidence that the person consumed alcohol after the last instance in which he drove, operated or was in actual physical control of the vehicle and that the amount of alcohol by weight in his blood would not have exceeded 0.10% at the time of the test but for such consumption.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“No person shall drive a vehicle at a speed greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing, nor at a speed greater than will permit the driver to bring his vehicle to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead. Consistent with the foregoing, every person shall drive at a safe and appropriate speed when approaching and crossing an intersection or railroad grade crossing, when approaching and going around curve, when approaching a hill crest, when traveling upon any narrow or winding roadway and when special hazards exist with respect to pedestrians or other traffic or by reason of weather or highway conditions.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“(a) After the defendant has been held for court, the attorney for the Commonwealth shall proceed by preparing an information and filing it with the court of common pleas. (b) The information shall be signed by the attorney for the Commonwealth and shall be valid and sufficient in law if it contains: (5) a plain and concise statement of the essential elements of the offense substantially the same as or cognate to the offense alleged in the complaint....”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Commonwealth v. Coon
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.