Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

539 Pa. 478

653 A.2d 616

Commonwealth v. O'Hanlon

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Decided January 20, 1995

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1995-01-20

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“§ 2702. Aggravated assault (a) Offense defined. — A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he: (1) attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury intentionally, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life;”

quoted by 3 later decisions, including Commonwealth v. Comer, Commonwealth v. Myers

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1995-01-20

How this case has been cited

Cited by 69 later decisions — most recently January 2026 · most notably Commonwealth v. Comer (1998), 2003 Pa. Super. 285 - Commonwealth v. Bullick (2003)

62 state decisions

2601995200020102020decided

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.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

PAPADAKOS, Justice,

¶1dissenting.

¶2I am compelled to dissent to the majority’s refusal to recognize drunken driving for what it really is. In this day and age when thousands and thousands of innocent travellers upon the nation’s highways are being mangled and slaughtered each year by drunken drivers, the time is long past due when this court must say STOP, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Drunk drivers are brainless lethal weapons.

¶3*484Is there anyone in America today who has been licensed to drive that does not know of the dangers of driving while in a state of intoxication? How can we say that a person who voluntarily drinks intoxicating beverages knowing that he or she will most likely drive a motor vehicle during the drinking session, or shortly thereafter, is not acting under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life?

¶4I am in complete accord with the Superior Court concluding that driving in a state of voluntary intoxication is recklessness per se. I cannot conceive of a higher degree of recklessness than that conduct which places the drunken driver, himself or herself, in a position of extreme peril, much less than the dangers visited upon the innocent.

¶5Perhaps I read the facts differently than does the majority. In my view, one who voluntarily becomes inebriated and drives is manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, his or her own included. I find that the statutory definition of aggravated assault is met and I, therefore, dissent and would affirm the Superior Court.

/539/pa/478 · .json · Public domain