Commonwealth v. Samuels’s Empirical Analysis
1987
Citation profile
42
cited by 42 later decisions
1
states following
January 1998
most recently cited
42 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Commonwealth v. Cabeza · Commonwealth v. Sessoms · 354 Pa. Super. 128 - Commonwealth v. Samuels
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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Superior Court began its analysis with the premise that the Commission’s enabling statute, of which this section is a part, is a penal provision and therefore subject to strict construction. Given this perspective, the court determined that paragraph (2) stated the only area in which the Commission was authorized to provide increased severity on account of prior convictions. The Commonwealth argues that this portion of the statute, though a mandatory direction, is not an exclusive direction; that is, the legislature insisted that the Commission treat a person with prior weapons misdemeanors more severely, but left it to the Commission, in the exercise of its broad grant of general authority, to determine what other conditions, including non-weapons misdemeanors, might also justify increased severity. This argument, though simple, is highly persuasive. We need not pass upon the Superior Court’s questionable judgment that the enabling statute (as distinguished from the actual guidelines produced by the Commission) is subject to strict construction as a penal provision. Notwithstanding that court’s determination that the meaning it attributed to § 2154(2) was “plate glass clear”, we are convinced that whether the statute is “strictly” or “liberally” construed, it in no way follows that the mandatory term “shall” is also an exclusive. The General Assembly gave the Commission a broad grant of authority to analyze the impact that various factors should have on the sentencing decisi”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“(a) General Rule — The Commission shall adopt guidelines for sentencing within the limits established by law which shall be considered by the sentencing court in determining the appropriate sentence for felonies and misdemeanors committed by a defendant. The guidelines shall: (1) Specify the range of sentences applicable to crimes of a given degree of gravity. (2) Specify a range of sentences of increased severity for defendants previously convicted of a felony or felonies or convicted of a crime involving the use of a deadly weapon. (3) Prescribe variations from the range of sentences applicable on account of aggravating or mitigating circumstances.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“2 This ruling is applicable to cases where the issue [of constitutionality] has been "properly preserved at all stages of adjudication up to and including any direct appeal." Commonwealth v. Cabeza, 503 Pa. 228, 233 , 469 A.2d 146, 148 (1983).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.