Commonwealth v. Powers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

70 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 70 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““While it may be true, as appellant argues, that many young black men in the 24th and Berks Streets area wear green army jackets and white tee-shirts, nevertheless, the discovery of the three youths, together on the street, in the neighborhood to which the suspects had fled, ten to fifteen minutes after the crime had occurred, where the three youths fit descriptions of the suspects and where there were no other persons matching those descriptions in the area, presented a combination of circumstances which was surely sufficient to justify a reasonable belief that they could well be the guilty parties. Thus probable cause existed to arrest appellant. Compare Commonwealth v. Jones, 457 Pa. 423 , 322 A.2d 119 (1974), with Commonwealth v. Berrios, 437 Pa. 338 , 263 A.2d 342 (1970). Since the arrest was legal, appellant’s argument that his confession should have been suppressed because it was the fruit of an illegal arrest is without merit.” Commonwealth v. Powers, 484 Pa. 198, 203 , 398 A.2d 1013, 1015 (1979).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 275 Pa. Super. 311 - Commonwealth v. Walker · In Re DM

2. “Before self-defense is in issue, there must be evidence introduced, from whatever source, to justify a finding that the killing may have been done in self-defense ... Our review of the record convinced us that the requisite elements of self-defense have not been presented. As noted, appellant denied knowledge of any stabbing. The only physical contact admitted by appellant was hitting and pushing one person who was in the way of he and his friends and, inferentially, perhaps jostling another who had come off a porch. Certainly, the testimony did not establish that either of these ‘dudes’ were provoking the difficulty or were acting in a manner sufficient to instill a reasonable belief that it was necessary to use deadly force against them. In similar cases, we have held that where a defendant steadfastly denies that he or his companions used deadly force against the victim and where the issue of self-defense was not otherwise injected into the trial by either the prosecution or the defense, the failure to charge upon the subject was not error.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 401 Pa. Super. 560 - Commonwealth v. Mayfield

3. “Appellant testified that he and his companions went to the area of the intersection of 32nd and Berks Street (the area where the stabbing occurred) looking for some girls he had recently met, and that while they were asking a young man if he knew the girls, a gang suddenly emerged from a store wielding knives and began chasing them. While appellant testified he was afraid, the only physical contact which he said took place was that someone hit and pushed a ‘dude’ who was in front of them on 31st Street, and that a ‘dude’ came off a porch and tried to grab Howard Kemp (co-defendant) but that ‘dude’ fell back. Appellant flatly denied stabbing anyone and denied that any of his companions had been injured or had stabbed anyone.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 401 Pa. Super. 560 - Commonwealth v. Mayfield