Smith v. Commonwealth

How courts have described this case

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

• holding that “a trial court may consider a defendant’s lack of remorse at sentencing, even when the defendant has chosen to enter an Alford plea”
• noting that a “court must take into account a wide range of information” at sentencing
• allowing consideration of lack of remorse by defendant entering Alford plea, notwithstanding defendant’s argument that doing so “may chill the use of the Alford plea and may increase the burden on the courts”
• “[A] trial court may consider a defendant’s lack of remorse at sentencing, even when the defendant has chosen to enter an Alford plea.”
• “An individual accused of crime may voluntarily, knowingly, and understandingly consent to the imposition of a prison sentence even if he is unwilling or unable to admit his participation in the acts constituting the crime.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

10 cases in this archive cite this case.

• State v. Knight
  Supreme Court of Iowa· 2005-07-01· cited 98×
• Jones v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1999-04-20· cited 43×
• Clauson v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1999-03-09· cited 22×
• Roland Baldwin v. Commonwealth of Virginia
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2018-07-17· cited 11×
• Carroll v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 2009-09-01· cited 10×
• Williams v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1999-08-03· cited 7×
• Lawlor v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 2013-01-10
• State v. Tysinger
  Court of Appeals of North Carolina· 2020-12-15
• State of Missouri v. Dustin E. Homan
  Missouri Court of Appeals· 2024-09-24
• Commonwealth v. Jackson
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 2025-11-20

Cites

15 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• North Carolina v. Alford
  Supreme Court· 1970-11-23· cited 9,465×
• Pennsylvania Ex Rel. Sullivan v. Ashe
  Supreme Court· 1937-11-08· cited 270×
• United States v. Jacobson
  Second Circuit· 1994-01-19· cited 184×
• Juares v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1997-12-09· cited 150×
• Clark v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1979-08-30· cited 125×
• Thomas v. Commonwealth
  Supreme Court of Virginia· 1992-06-05· cited 59×
• Gilliam v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1996-01-11· cited 56×
• Hill v. United States
  Supreme Court· 1980-01-21· cited 52×
• Valentine v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1994-05-03· cited 51×
• United States v. Malcolm Frazier
  Fourth Circuit· 1992-06-12· cited 46×
• Doss v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1996-12-31· cited 44×
• Jennings v. State
  Court of Appeals of Maryland· 1995-09-14· cited 37×
• State v. Howry
  Idaho Court of Appeals· 1995-06-06· cited 14×
• Saenz v. State
  Court of Special Appeals of Maryland· 1993-02-25· cited 12×
• Shifflett v. Commonwealth
  Court of Appeals of Virginia· 1997-12-30· cited 7×