# Commonwealth v. Jacobs

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · March 26, 1999 · 556 Pa. 138

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9692994

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Daniel JACOBS, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** March 26, 1999
- **Citations:** 556 Pa. 138; 727 A.2d 545; 1999 Pa. LEXIS 861
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Newman
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Zappala, Cappy, Castille, Nigro, Newman, Saylor
- **Cited by:** 13 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9692994

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that “it is the trial judge who must interpret the answers and demeanor of all potential jurors to evaluate their ability and willingness to render a fair verdict”

## Opinion text

NEWMAN, Justice,
concurring.
I join the Majority, and write separately only to address footnote 8 of the Opinion. I reiterate the position I expressed in Commonwealth v. Chandler, 554 Pa. 401 , 721 A.2d 1040 (1998), regarding the “life means life” issue. As I stated in Chandler :
[I]n cases where Simmons would require a “life means life” instruction, I agree with Chief Justice Flaherty that the court should instruct the jury that the defendant’s sentence could be commuted. Where future dangerousness is at *160 issue, the impossibility of parole and the possibility of commutation are equally relevant, so the court should inform the jury of both contingencies.
In this case, I agree with the majority that future dangerousness was not at issue. Accordingly, I agree that the trial court properly declined to give a “life means life” instruction.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9692994. Public record. Not legal advice.