Commonwealth v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
1978
Citation profile
43 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 47 later decisions — most recently June 2017 · most notably Commonwealth v. Browne (1990), 382 Pa. Super. 156 - Commonwealth v. Fried (1989)
43 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. Shelton · Commonwealth v. Coleman · Commonwealth v. Lynch · Commonwealth v. Smith
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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(c) At any time prior to the expiration of the period for commencement of trial, the attorney for the Commonwealth may apply to the court for an order extending the time for commencement of trial. A copy of such application shall be served upon the defendant through his attorney, if any, and the defendant shall also have the right to be heard thereon. Such application shall be granted only if trial cannot be commenced within the prescribed period despite due diligence by the Commonwealth. Any order granting such application shall specify the date or period within which trial shall be commenced.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“When a case has possible Rule 1100 problems, prosecutors must do everything reasonable within their power to see that the case is tried on time.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[WJhen the case was called on March 3, the Commonwealth did not show due diligence by simply explaining that the prosecutor assigned to the case was involved in another trial. The Commonwealth, having knowledge of all facts previously stated, should have had a prosecutor prepared to try the case when it was called on March 3. We realize, of course, that the situation may well arise where the Commonwealth may be unable to try a case because the available prosecutors are outnumbered by eases having Rule 1100 problems. Here, however, no such explanation was given. It could very well be that on March 3, the prosecutor originally assigned to appellant’s case was involved in a trial which also had Rule 1100 implications. We must remember, however, that the Commonwealth has the burden of establishing due diligence and on this record, the Commonwealth has not met its burden.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.