450 Pa. Super. 428 - Commonwealth v. Robinson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This is not an issue of waiver. Even though, as a general rule, a defendant need not file a post-sentence motion-in order to preserve issues for appellate review, a weight of the evidence argument may be addressed only by the trial court. Therefore, a defendant who wishes to seek a new trial on grounds that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence, must necessarily raise the issue via a post-sentencing motion in the trial court. If the trial court denies the motion, the defendant may then file an appeal in which the trial court’s exercise of discretion will be subject to review. [A] panel of this court has held that, even if the trial court has filed an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) in which it addresses the weight of the evidence issue, the trial court had no basis upon which to grant a new trial without a motion for a new trial before it. Thus, it could not exercise its discretion in granting or denying same.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 453 Pa. Super. 600 - Commonwealth v. Boring

2. “An appellate court may only review the trial court’s exercise of discretion in granting or denying a new trial on the grounds that the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence; it may not address “the underlying question whether the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 453 Pa. Super. 385 - Commonwealth v. Clinton