11 Va. App. 48 - Low v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

42 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Curtis v. Commonwealth · 12 Va. App. 948 - Darnell v. Commonwealth

2. “constitutes an offense for which the defendant has already been prosecuted.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 14 Va. App. 126 - Freeman v. Commonwealth · Commonwealth v. Clemons

3. “Recently in Grady v. Corbin, 110 S. Ct. 2084 (1990), the Supreme Court clarified the standard for determining whether successive prosecutions are barred by the double jeopardy clause of the fifth amendment. The traditional test is set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U.S. 299 (1932): "The applicable rule is that where the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Id. at 304 . The Grady Court stated that the Blockburger test, however, is not the exclusive means of vindicating double jeopardy protections. Grady, 110 S. Ct. at 2092 . The Court adopted the reasoning of Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410 (1980), that "even if two successive prosecutions were not barred by the Blockburger test, the second prosecution would be barred if the prosecution sought to establish an essen tial element of the second crime by proving the conduct for which the defendant was convicted in the first prosecution." Grady, 110 S. Ct. at 2087 . Under the Grady standard, both tests may be required in order to make the appropriate analysis. "To determine whether a subsequent prosecution is barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause, a court must first apply the traditional Blockburger test. If application of that test reveals that the offenses have identical statutory elements or that one is a lesser i”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Havenner