Commonwealth v. Crawley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

97 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 99 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is simply not true that “the sentencing statute” requires us to vacate a sentence of death where we have invalidated one of multiple aggravating circumstances found by a jury which has also found the existence of some mitigating circumstances. The Sentencing Code provides that: (3) The Supreme Court shall affirm the sentence of death unless it determines that: (i) the sentence of death was the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor; (ii) the evidence fails to support the finding of an aggravating circumstance specified in subsection (d); or (iii) the sentence of death is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the circumstances of the crime and the character and record of the defendant. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(h) (emphasis added). Here, the evidence clearly “supports the finding of an aggravating circumstance specified in subsection (d),” namely that appellant was convicted of another offense committed at the same time for which a sentence of death was imposable. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9711(d)(10). Thus, assuming for the sake of argument only that there was insufficient evidence to support one of the aggravating circumstances, the continuing vitality of the remaining aggravating circumstance requires that we affirm the sentence of death unless we determine that it was “the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor.” This Court should review the entire record to determine whether consideration of an ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Caldwell

2. “A second possible aggravating circumstance is that the offense was committed by means of torture. You have heard that question argued to you. The law does not define torture, beyond merely the words that I have explained to you. However, our Supreme Court has attempted to gather to give some further definition to that term. It does not simply mean torture in the sense that we think of being burned at the stake or placed on the rack, or something like that. To apply that aggravating circumstance, you must find that the killing was perpetrated by means of torture. And as I said, the Supreme Court has interpreted the word torture as used in the statute as the infliction of a considerable amount of pain and suffering on a victim which is unnecessarily heinous, atrocious or callous, manifesting exceptional depravity.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Proctor

3. “We recognize that a prosecutor is not permitted to comment adversely upon a defendant’s refusal to testify on the merits of the charge against him. Such comment by the prosecution violates the constitutionally based proscriptions against adverse comment on the refusal of the accused to take the stand. However, we are also mindful that a prosecutor’s remarks fall within the ambit of fair comment if they are supported by evidence and they contain inferences which are reasonably derived from that evidence. Our review of the record indicates that the prosecutor’s remarks did not refer to appellant’s refusal to take the stand in his defense; the prosecutor’s statement was supported by the evidence; and it did not require appellant to rebut it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 409 Pa. Super. 611 - Commonwealth v. Byrd