Commonwealth v. Miller’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

50 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 56 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A finding that a chosen strategy lacked a reasonable basis is not warranted unless it can be concluded that an alternative not chosen offered a potential for success substantially greater than the course actually pursued.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Sneed · 2012 Pa. Super. 46 - Commonwealth v. Reed

2. “Charles Love, Esq. (Love), represented [Appellant's] uncle, Gregory Miller (Gregory) on various matters, and successfully obtained money for Gregory as the result of a variety of civil claims.... However, Love could not distribute the entire sum to Gregory because of outstanding support orders and child support arrearages. On the morning of February 25, 1998, [Appellant] and Marcus Lloyd (Lloyd) met Herbert Blakeney (Blakeney) at Blakeney's house, at which time the three traveled to Gregory's home. During the ensuing conversation, Gregory spoke to the others about robbing Love at his office at 1006 Spruce Street in Philadelphia, and mentioned that anyone present at the office might have to be shot. According to the original plan, as devised by Gregory and as testified to by Blakeney, [Appellant] was to be the shooter and Lloyd was to tie up the victims while Blakeney acted as a lookout. Gregory gave [Appellant] a handgun and told Blakeney to go to Love's office, get a check for [$ 10,000] from [Love], and give the check to Lloyd; Gregory instructed Lloyd to take the check to the bank and cash it. Gregory did not accompany [Appellant], Blakeney, and Lloyd to Love's office, but before they left for the office, Gregory told the three that the victims would have to be killed and to "leave no witnesses." En route, [Appellant], Blakeney, and Lloyd took turns carrying the weapon, but Blakeney ended up with it when they reached Love's office. Brian Barry (Barry), a paralegal, opened ”

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

3. “As the starting point for our review ... we presume that counsel is effective. To overcome this presumption, appellant must establish three factors. First, he must show that the underlying claim has arguable merit. Second, appellant must prove that counsel had no reasonable basis for his action or inaction. In determining whether counsel’s action was reasonable, we do not question whether there were other more logical courses of action which counsel could have pursued; rather, we must examine whether counsel’s decisions had any reasonable basis. Finally, appellant must establish that he has been prejudiced by counsel’s ineffectiveness; in order to meet this burden, he must show that but for the act or omission in question, the outcome of the proceedings would have been different. If it is clear that appellant has not met the prejudice prong of the ineffectiveness standard, the claim may be dismissed on that basis alone and the court need not [initially] determine whether the first and second prongs have been met.”

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