Commonwealth v. Liebel’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

81 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “§ 9543. Eligibility for relief (a) General rule.—To be eligible for relief under this subchapter, the petitioner must plead and prove by a preponderance of the evidence all of the following: (1) That the petitioner has been convicted of a crime under the laws of this Commonwealth and is at the time relief is granted: (i) currently serving a sentence of imprisonment, probation or parole for the crime; (ii) awaiting execution of a sentence of death for the crime; or (iii) serving a sentence which must expire before the person may commence serving the disputed sentence. (2) That the conviction or sentence resulted from one or more of the following: (i) A violation of the Constitution of this Commonwealth or the Constitution or laws of the United States which, in the circumstances of the particular case, so undermined the truth-determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place. (ii) Ineffective assistance of counsel which, in the circumstances of the particular case, so undermined the truth-determining process that no reliable adjudication of guilt or innocence could have taken place. (iii) A plea of guilty unlawfully induced where the circumstances make it likely that the inducement caused the petitioner to plead guilty and the petitioner is innocent. (iv) The improper obstruction by government officials of the petitioner's right of appeal where a meritorious appealable issue existed and was properly preserved in the trial court. (v) ”

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

2. “Indeed, only by [seeking allowance of appeal with this Court] can a petitioner avail himself of the opportunity to have this Court at least consider whether his claims warrant our review and if so, whether those claims ultimately entitle him to relief. In light of this right to file a [petition for allowance of appeal] to this Court, and given Appellant’s rule-based right to the effective assistance of counsel through his discretionary appeal to this Court on direct appeal, we disagree with the Commonwealth’s assertion that Lantzy is inapplicable here. Rather, we find the reasoning of Lantzy equally persuasive in the circumstances presented in this case. ... Similar to Lantzy , we find that such wholesale denial of counsel sufficiently establishes that the truth-determining process has been undermined, rendering a showing that this Court would have granted review on Appellant’s underlying claims unnecessary.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2003 Pa. Super. 336 - Commonwealth v. Gadsden

3. “In Lantzy, ... [w]e reasoned that counsel’s unjustified failure to perfect a requested appeal is the functional equivalent of having absolutely no representation at all on -direct appeal, a clear violation of the federal and state constitutional right to counsel. ⅜ ⅜ ⅜ [W]e find the reasoning of Lantzy equally persuasive- in the circumstances presented by this case. Here, appellate counsel ... simply failed to file a [petition for allowance of appeal] on [the accused’s] behalf.... Such a failure cannot be regarded as anything less than providing [the accused] with no representation at all on that [petition for allowance of appeal], a clear violation of [the accused’s] rule-based right to counsel.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Rosado