# Commonwealth v. May

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · April 2, 1998 · 551 Pa. 286

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9693434

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Freeman MAY, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** April 2, 1998
- **Citations:** 551 Pa. 286; 710 A.2d 44; 1998 Pa. LEXIS 584
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Nigro
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Zappala, Cappy, Castille, Nigro, Newman
- **Cited by:** 30 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/9693434

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- stating that no Simmons instruction was required because "[t]he aggravating circumstance of appellant's prior record for violent felonies addressed only appellant's past conduct, not his future dangerousness"
- holding that the aggravating circumstance of a significant history of prior violent felony convictions involves only the defendant's past conduct, not his future dangerousness.
- holding that evidence regarding a defendant's past violent convictions or conduct does not implicate the issue of his or her future dangerousness

## Opinion text

*295 NIGRO, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the result for the reasons set forth in my concurring opinion in Commonwealth v. Clark, - Pa. -, 710 A.2d 31 (Pa. 1998), asserting that a jury charge pursuant to Simmons v. South Carolina, 512 U.S. 154 , 114 S.Ct. 2187 , 129 L.Ed.2d 133 (1994), should be mandated regardless of whether counsel raises the issue of a defendant’s potential future dangerousness during the penalty phase.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9693434. Public record. Not legal advice.