Commonwealth v. Tyson’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 58 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 60 later decisions — most recently May 2007 · most notably Commonwealth v. Hughes (1989), Commonwealth v. Logan (1988)
2 federal appellate · 58 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. Blair · Commonwealth v. Rose · Commonwealth v. Demmitt · Commonwealth v. Bruno · Commonwealth v. Zlatovich
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 60 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he test to be applied in determining the legal sufficiency of his mental capacity to stand trial, or enter a plea at the time involved, is not the M’Naghten ‘right or wrong’ test, but rather his ability to comprehend his position as one accused of murder and to cooperate with his counsel, in making a rational defense ... Or stated another way, did he have sufficient ability at the pertinent time to consult with his lawyers with a reasonable degree of rational understanding and have a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him. A man’s right to a fair trial and a meaningful defense strike at the heart of due process of the law. If a defendant is incapable of cooperating with his defense counsel, because of mental illness he cannot take advantage of the basic protections the law affords to all men ... legal counsel is an absolute necessity in a criminal trial, and yet, if a man is provided with counsel, but unable to cooperate with his counsel because of mental illness, the protections which counsel can provide become a nullity.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“We have concluded however that when the issue presented is whether a person was competent to stand trial, the waiver rule is not applicable. See Commonwealth v. Marshall, 456 Pa. 313, 319 , 318 A.2d 724, 727 (1974) .... The test of an accused’s competency to stand trial is his “ability to comprehend his position as one accused of murder and to cooperate with his counsel in making a rational defense.” (Citations omitted.) Commonwealth ex rel. Hilberry v. Maroney, 424 Pa. 493, 495 , 227 A.2d 159, 160 (1967). A finding of competency by the trial court will not be reversed unless it is unsupported by the record. Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 451 Pa. 483 , 305 A.2d 890 (1973).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.