Commonwealth v. Ragan

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• unlike the evidence provided by the HGN test, a suspect’s performance of psychomotor FSTs “is reflective of ordinary signs of intoxication discernible by a layperson”
• “sobriety tests... are grounded in theories which link an individual’s lack of coordination and the loss of concentration, with intoxication”
• officers could give lay testimony regarding results of field sobriety tests because, although field sobriety tests are not conducted by citizens, the test’s indicia of intoxication are “within the understanding and experience of ordinary people”
• lay witness can give an opinion as to whether a person was intoxicated

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

15 cases in this archive cite this case.

• Commonwealth v. Salter
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2015-08-04· cited 130×
• State v. Ferrer
  Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals· 2001-03-30· cited 47×
• State v. Meador
  District Court of Appeal of Florida· 1996-05-15· cited 43×
• Commonwealth v. Edwards
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2000-11-03· cited 33×
• Commonwealth v. Smith
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2006-07-14· cited 27×
• Commonwealth v. Hayes
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1996-04-17· cited 16×
• Commonwealth v. Dangle
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1997-09-17· cited 12×
• Commonwealth v. Barker
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2013-07-10· cited 11×
• Commonwealth v. Drake
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1996-07-30· cited 9×
• People v. DiNonno
  Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York· 1997-03-05· cited 6×
• Department of the Auditor General v. Council 13, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
  Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania· 1997-01-22· cited 3×
• State v. DePompei
  Medina Municipal Court· 2002-06-25· cited 2×
• Miller v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing
  Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania· 2003-11-14· cited 1×
• Commonwealth v. Lungin
  Bucks County Court of Common Pleas· 2005-09-15
• Com. v. Marberger, R.
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2025-08-25

Cites

19 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• Miranda v. Arizona
  Supreme Court· 1966-06-13· cited 58,288×
• Terry v. Ohio
  Supreme Court· 1968-06-10· cited 37,942×
• Schmerber v. California
  Supreme Court· 1966-06-20· cited 6,067×
• Commonwealth v. Hardcastle
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1988-08-10· cited 233×
• Commonwealth v. Bowser
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1993-04-14· cited 54×
• Commonwealth v. Miller
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1987-10-20· cited 45×
• Commonwealth v. Toanone
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1989-01-19· cited 44×
• Commonwealth v. Conway
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1987-10-23· cited 43×
• Commonwealth v. Price
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1992-07-08· cited 38×
• Commonwealth v. Apollo
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1992-01-09· cited 33×
• Commonwealth v. Weis
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1992-06-18· cited 32×
• Commonwealth v. McElroy
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1993-08-18· cited 30×
• Goodman v. United States
  Supreme Court· 1994-10-03· cited 27×
• Commonwealth v. Monahan
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1988-10-26· cited 22×
• Commonwealth v. Hamme
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1990-12-13· cited 21×
• Commonwealth v. Neiswonger
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1985-02-01· cited 19×
• Commonwealth v. Ramin
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1990-01-30· cited 5×
• Bowser v. Pennsylvania
  Supreme Court· 1994-10-03· cited 2×
• Hardcastle v. Pennsylvania
  Supreme Court· 1990-02-20· cited 1×