Commonwealth v. Ford’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If the validity of a guilty plea is at issue, a written motion for withdrawal must be filed in the trial court. The matter may not be raised for the first time before us. We noted the requirement in Commonwealth v. Lee, 460 Pa. 324 , 333 A.2d 749 (1975). In Lee , we considered a challenge to a guilty plea that was not raised in the trial court because we found that the law had not been clear. In Commonwealth v. Dowling, [482] Pa. [608], 394 A.2d 488 (1978), we held that the law was clear after Lee. Dowling involving a guilty plea entered five months after Lee was decided. We held that a challenge to a guilty plea was waived for failure to raise it in the trial court. Lee was decided on March 18, 1975, approximately eight months before the plea in the instant case. Lee and Dowling are controlling and require a finding of waiver.””

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