Commonwealth v. Ward’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

28 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “I refused to accept the reasoning of the majority in . . . Commonwealth v. Williams . . . and will continue to refuse to join in any decision which reverses a plea of guilty solely on super-technical grounds. Id. 483 Pa. at 59, 394 A.2d at 537. (citations omitted). It should also be noted that Rule 319(a) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, which sets forth the requirements of a valid guilty plea colloquy does not require that the defendant be informed that if he chooses a jury trial “the verdict which the jury might render would have to be unanimous.” The decisions in this case and others of the same ilk are extending the requirements of the Rule. Id., 483 Pa. at 60, 394 A.2d at 538. (emphasis in original).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 307 Pa. Super. 312 - Commonwealth v. Anthony

2. “Nowhere on the record is there any indication that [the defendant] knew the essential ingredients of a jury trial which are necessary to understand the significance of the right he was waiving. These essential ingredients, basic to the concept of a jury trial, are the requirements that the jury be chosen from members of the community (a jury of one’s peers), that the verdict be unanimous, and that the accused be allowed to participate in the selection of the jury panel. . . . In view of the failure of the record to establish that appellant had sufficient knowledge of the right which it is now contended he waived, we are unable to find that the waiver was either knowing and intelligent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 327 Pa. Super. 139 - Commonwealth v. Payne

3. “Williams held that before a purported waiver of the right to trial by jury may be said to be valid, the record must show that the defendant understood that the jurors would be chosen from members of the community, that the accused would be able to participate in their selection, and that any verdict which the jury might render would have to be unanimous. Supra [483 Pa.] at 56, 394 A.2d at 536 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Troop