Commonwealth v. Chester’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

44 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 48 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(i) the failure to raise the claim previously was the result of interference by government officials with the presentation of the claim in violation of the Constitution or laws of this Commonwealth or the Constitution or laws of the United States; (ii) the facts upon which the claim is predicated were unknown to the petitioner and could not have been ascertained by the exercise of due diligence; or (iii) the right asserted is a constitutional right that was recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States or the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania after the time period provided in this section and has been held by that court to apply retroactively.”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Hill · Commonwealth v. Marshall

2. “[I]f a PCRA petition is untimely, neither this Court nor the trial court has jurisdiction over the petition. Without jurisdiction, we simply do not have the legal authority to address the substantive claims.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Hill · Commonwealth v. Natividad, R., Aplt.

3. “Whereas the majority would find that counsel's DUI arrest was public record, and therefore, generally discoverable through an exercise of due diligence on the part of [Chester], I would find that the particular circumstances of this case lead to the conclusion that PCRA counsel, through the exercise of diligence, should have uncovered counsel's DUI arrest. Specifically, the allegations made by PCRA counsel in [Chester]'s first PCRA petition indicate that by exercising due diligence, PCRA counsel would have further uncovered trial counsel's criminal history. Thus, I would not go so far as the majority does to hold that criminal defendants are generally responsible for the arduous task of uncovering the criminal record of their attorney, where no basis for such discovery exists. For the following reasons, I concur. The majority opinion posits that trial counsel's DUI arrest could not be characterized as "unknown" to [Chester] because the information was a matter of public record. I believe, however, that there is danger in placing such an onerous burden on a criminal defendant to search public records to determine whether there are pending charges against his attorney during that defendant's trial. Rather, in affirming, I would rely solely upon the record sub judice, and conclude that if where, as here, PCRA counsel, who represented Appellant at his first PCRA hearing, had exercised due diligence, he would have uncovered trial counsel's DUI arrest. Because PCRA counsel for Appe”

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