# Commonwealth v. Miller

> Superior Court of Pennsylvania · November 18, 1993 · 430 Pa. Super. 297

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9752014

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Ardella MILLER, Appellant
- **Court:** Superior Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** November 18, 1993
- **Citations:** 430 Pa. Super. 297; 634 A.2d 614; 1993 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3878
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Rowley
- **Judges:** Rowley, Wieand, Cirillo, Sole, Tamilia, Kelly, Popovich, Hudock, Elliott
- **Cited by:** 26 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/9752014

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- reasoning that expert testimony as to battered person syndrome was "not introduced to improperly bolster the credibility of the defendant, but rather, to aid the jury in evaluating the defendant’s behavior and state of mind given the abusive environment which existed”
- holding that evidence of battered woman syndrome was admissible in homicide trial as probative evidence of defendant's state of mind as it relates to a theory of self-defense

## Opinion text

ROWLEY, President Judge,
concurring.
I join in the Majority’s decision in all regards, save for its statement “that [battered woman syndrome] evidence is admissible [in a homicide trial] as probative evidence of the defendant’s state of mind as it relates to a theory of self-defense.” It is my belief that the Majority’s conclusion in this regard is dicta because it is unnecessary to a disposition of the instant appeal. A specific holding concerning the admissibility of battered woman syndrome evidence in homicide cases is better left for a day when that issue has been squarely presented to this Court.
TAMILIA and POPOVICH, JJ., join in this concurring statement by ROWLEY, P.J.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9752014. Public record. Not legal advice.