Commonwealth v. Rashed’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. “He argues that since [eyewitness] Cusack had failed to identify him at the line-up conducted prior to the preliminary hearing, Cusack’s subsequent in-court identification of appellant was impermissibly tainted by his alleged observation of appellant at the hearing. Thus, appellant argues, his counsel was ineffective for failing to attempt to suppress Cusack’s testimony on this basis. This Court has already held, in response to appellant’s challenge on direct appeal, that Cusack’s inability to identify appellant at the lineup did not affect the admissibility of Cusack’s in-court identification testimony but only its weight and credibility. [Commonwealth v. Davis ] 466 Pa. [102] at 113, 351 A.2d [642] at 647. The independent basis of Cusack’s identification of appellant was elicited in detail by the Commonwealth and subjected to rigorous cross-examination at both of appellant’s trials. In the face of this demonstrated independent basis, a motion to suppress the identification testimony of Cusack would have succeeded only upon a showing that the alleged sighting of appellant by Cusack “was so impermissibly suggestive .as to give rise to a very substantial likelihood of misidentification.” Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 384 , 88 S.Ct. 967, 971 , 19 L.Ed.2d 1247 (1968). Here, appellant’s unsupported allegation, even if true, does not seriously undermine the reliability of Cusack’s in-court identification. Because the trial court would have properly denied a motion to supp”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 313 Pa. Super. 355 - Commonwealth v. Davis

2. “[ajlthough a perfectly conducted trial is indeed the ideal objective of our judicial process, the defendant is not necessarily entitled to relief simply because of some imperfections in the trial, so long as he has been accorded a fair trial. ‘A defendant is entitled to a fair trial but not a perfect one.' Commonwealth v. Hill, 450 Pa. 477, 480-81 , 301 A.2d 587, 590 (1973) (quoting Lutwak v. United States, 344 U.S. 604, 619 , 73 S.Ct. 481, 490 , 97 L.Ed. 593 (1953)).”

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