# Commonwealth v. Smith

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · July 29, 1986 · 511 Pa. 343

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9714683

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Clifford SMITH, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** July 29, 1986
- **Citations:** 511 Pa. 343; 513 A.2d 1371; 1986 Pa. LEXIS 828
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Nix
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Larsen, McDermott, Nix, Papadakos, Zappala
- **Cited by:** 51 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/9714683

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- finding the death penalty not disproportionate where it was imposed in eight of nine similar cases
- finding death penalty proportionate where it was imposed in eight out of nine similar cases

## Opinion text

NIX, Chief Justice,
concurring.
I regret that the majority is still unwilling to reconsider the argument that the death qualification process creates juries which are prosecution-prone and unrepresentative of the community. See Commonwealth v. Simon, 509 Pa. 548 , 506 A.2d 392 (1986) (Nix, C.J., and Zappala, J., dissent *360 ing statements); see also Commonwealth v. Maxwell, 505 Pa. 152, 170 , 477 A.2d 1309, 1319 (Nix, C.J., dissenting), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 971 , 105 S.Ct. 370 , 83 L.Ed.2d 306 (1984). However, since it appears that the procedure will remain the law of this Commonwealth until some other tribunal sees the wisdom of this argument, I therefore concur in the result.
Justice Zappala joins in this concurring opinion.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9714683. Public record. Not legal advice.