Commonwealth v. Haag’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

57 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 62 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he PCRA system is not part of the criminal proceeding itself, but is, in fact, civil in nature.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Presley · Commonwealth v. Kretchmar

2. “[I]t is indisputable that Haag is incompetent to waive his right to PCRA relief and that [a]ppellant has standing as next friend to pursue such relief for him. Appellant seeks to suspend PCRA proceedings because Haag cannot aid her and PCRA counsel in an investigation of possible avenues for relief. It appears that, in any situation where a next friend initiates PCRA proceedings, the prisoner will be unwilling or unable to assist in identifying issues to raise on collateral review. A prisoner’s inability to participate in next friend proceedings due to incompetence is not a reason to halt such proceedings. Requiring a next friend to pursue relief while a prisoner is incompetent ensures that the prisoner promptly reaps the benefits from meritorious claims, rather than suffering delay in relief.... We instruct [a]ppellant to proceed on her petition, and if Haag regains competency, he may seek review of any such claims through a second PCRA petition.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Watson · Commonwealth v. Cruz

3. “A possible scenario may occur in the future. Haag may regain his competence after his next friend and counsel have litigated claims through a PCRA petition. The next friend may be unsuccessful in obtaining relief; and now that he is competent, Haag may wish to raise cognizable PCRA claims of which only he knew and, because of his incompetence, was unable to communicate to his next friend or counsel. While Appellant [the next friend] asserts that Haag will be time barred from bringing a second petition and raising this class of claims, we disagree.... If Haag files a second petition, that petition would be subject to the requirements for timely filing as found in the current provisions of the PCRA.... Because Haag’s second petition cannot possibly be filed within one year of the date upon which judgment became final, his second petition will be time barred unless one of three statutory exceptions applies.... Although we have not addressed the issue, arguably, the exception found in 42 Pa.C.S. § 9545(b)(1)(ii) seems to apply to the present facts.... In this case ... Haag’s inability to communicate with counsel because of mental illness, the death of prior counsel, and the destruction of Haag’s file could satisfy the exception in section 9545(b)(1)(ii) for claims based upon facts not discovered by PCRA counsel through the exercise of due diligence. If Haag filed his second petition within 60 days of regaining his competence, and thereby, his ability to “know” such facts, Haag’s ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Cruz