Dora Ann Swain v. Commonwealth

How courts have described this case

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

• examining the trial record and context of the statement to “determine . . . the purpose for which the Commonwealth offered the statement”
• examining the “context” of the statement to “determine . . . the purpose for which the Commonwealth offered the statement”
• “Determining whether a statement is offered to prove the truth or falsity of the matter asserted requires an analysis of the purpose for which the statement is offered into evidence.”
• “The jury’s sentence is subject to the judge’s review after considering at the sentencing hearing various mitigating, extenuating, or even aggravating circumstances.”
• a drug purchaser’s statement, “a twenty,” was not hearsay because the Commonwealth did not offer the statement for its truth, but to explain and give meaning to the defendant’s statements, “what do you want,” and “just a minute”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

9 cases in this archive cite this case.

• Bryant v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2002-12-17· cited 16×
• Durant v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2001-05-15· cited 9×
• Antonio Jones v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2020-03-10
• Commonwealth v. Prieto
  Fairfax County Circuit Court· 2010-03-08
• Dilliraj Bista v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2022-12-06
• Dilliraj Bista v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2023-01-10
• Dilliraj Bista v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2023-09-12
• James Thomas Curry v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2025-04-01
• Dean Anton Vitasek v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2026-01-13

Cites

14 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• Ragland v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1993-08-17· cited 133×
• Lane v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1982-06-18· cited 104×
• Crews v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1994-03-29· cited 64×
• Duncan v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1986-05-06· cited 48×
• Richard Vines v. R. M. Muncy, Superintendent, James River Correctional Center, and the Attorney General of Virginia
  Fourth Circuit· 1977-03-28· cited 46×
• Taylor v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1998-07-21· cited 45×
• Alvarez v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1997-05-27· cited 43×
• Brown v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1997-07-08· cited 39×
• Bruce v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1990-01-02· cited 39×
• State v. Miller
  Arizona Supreme Court· 1996-07-11· cited 36×
• Brown v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1996-01-23· cited 35×
• Williams v. State
  Indiana Supreme Court· 1996-08-02· cited 18×
• Worden v. State
  District Court of Appeal of Florida· 1992-07-17· cited 17×
• Atkins v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1991-12-10· cited 10×