Commonwealth v. Oliver’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “. In order to demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel, an appellant must show: “1) that the underlying claim is of arguable merit; 2) that counsel’s performance was unreasonable; and 3) that counsel’s ineffectiveness prejudiced defendant.” Commonwealth v. Peterkin, 538 Pa. 455, 460 , 649 A.2d 121, 123 (1994). Commonwealth v. Robinson, 452 Pa.Super. 606, 611-13 , 682 A.2d 831, 834 (1996). Trial counsel is presumed to be effective, and the burden of proving ineffectiveness rests with appellant. Commonwealth v. Wallace, 433 Pa.Super. 518 , 641 A.2d 321 (1994). Moreover, “[i]n reviewing any particular claim of ineffectiveness, we need not determine whether thé first two prongs of the standard are met if the record evinces that Appellant has not met the prejudice prong.” Commonwealth v. Jones, 546 Pa. 161, 175 , 683 A.2d 1181, 1188 (1996), citing Commonwealth v. Travaglia, 541 Pa. 108, 118 , 661 A.2d 352 (1995); Commonwealth v. Wilson, 543 Pa. 429 , 672 A.2d 293 (1996). “Prejudice ... has been defined to mean that Appellant must establish that but for the arguably ineffective act or omission there is a reasonable probability that the result would have been different.” Commonwealth v. Crawley, 541 Pa. 408, 414 , 663 A.2d 676, 679 (1995). See also Commonwealth v. Jermyn, 533 Pa. 194, 198 , 620 A.2d 1128, 1130 (1993) (in order to establish prejudice, appellant must demonstrate that counsel’s improper course of conduct “had an adverse effect upon the outcome of the proceedings.””

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