Commonwealth v. Crowley’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
78 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 78 later decisions — most recently October 2008 · most notably Commonwealth v. Morales (1985), Commonwealth v. Dunbar (1983)
78 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 Barker v. Wingo · Commonwealth v. Shelton · Commonwealth v. Mayfield · Commonwealth v. Hamilton · Commonwealth v. Genovese
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 78 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Rule 1100 should not be construed to require Common Pleas Courts with backlogged criminal dockets to devote all their administrative and judicial resources to guarantee that every defendant is tried within the period prescribed by the Rule. It should be sufficient for the court to establish that it has devoted a reasonable amount of its resources to the criminal docket and that it scheduled the criminal trial at the earliest possible date consistent with the court’s business. While the trial court may be required to rearrange its docket, if possible, when judicial delay has caused a lengthy postponement beyond the period prescribed by Rule 1100, or one that implicates the constitutional right to a speedy trial, it should not be required to do so to avoid a delay of under 30 days as here.”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Ironically, prophylactic application of Rule 1100 coupled with our standard for determining ineffective assistance render criminal counsels’ ineffectiveness ultimately effective because failure to object to arguably improper extensions increases the likelihood of .an erroneous grant of a continuance leading to the ultimate discharge for a Rule 1100 violation. Indeed, in this ease, trial counsel’s carelessness insured a favorable result. That insurance would have been cancelled had he properly objected to the Commonwealth’s petition for an extension of time and given the trial court an opportunity to consider the question in an adversary posture. Such a rule tempts the result-oriented practitioner to “deliberate” inadvertence or at least benign neglect. Trial and appellate court judges have long suspected the possibility of “build in” ineffective assistance by clever trial counsel. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Boykin [501] Pa. [250], 460 A.2d 1101 (1983) (Larsen, J. dissenting opinion). See also Commonwealth v. Brown, 497 Pa. 7 , 438 A.2d 592 (1981). Our standard of ineffectiveness is ill-designed to recognize such perversions of an adversary system which was intended to vigorously safeguard the rights of criminal defendants. Defense counsel’s failure to object to an extension of time did not result in a denial of a fair trial nor is it fundamentally unfair to deny appellant the prophylactic effect of Rule 1100. When defense counsel fails to object to a Commonwealth petition for”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““must be given a realistic construction. A rigid requirement that the Courts of Common Pleas, particularly in urban areas with severely crowded criminal and civil dockets, must continually arrange and rearrange their schedules to accommodate the 180 day rule, would be ill-advised. It may be possible, in an abstract sense, to arrange a crowded court calendar to insure that every criminal defendant is tried within 180 days. However, such a rigid system requires eliminating a realistic mechanism for scheduling civil cases, or giving weight to those who await trial in prison for lack of bail. Finally, trial judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys would have to be available at all times to try defendants whose 180 days are about to run. ... Rule 1100 was designed to promote the administration of criminal justice within the context of our entire judicial system, not to render that system hostage to its own closed logic. The goals of efficiency and ease of administration which Rule 1100 serves are worthy; they should not be exalted at the expense of justice. Thus, in interpreting our Rule 1100, we must throw away the stopwatch and pick up the scales of justice. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Blady, 492 Pa. 285 , 424 A.2d 864 (1980) (dissenting opinion, Larsen, J., in which Flaherty, J. joined).””
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.