Commonwealth v. Melendez’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
7
cited by 7 later decisions
2
states following
March 1999
most recently cited
7 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Commonwealth v. Domanski · Commonwealth v. Earltop · Commonwealth v. Franklin · Commonwealth v. Spencer · Commonwealth v. Niziolek
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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““Availability does not necessarily mean proof of actual physical whereabouts. Otherwise, a defendant by fabricating the existence of a witness could always preclude [an adverse] comment [or instruction]. What is meant by availability is ‘the likelihood that the party against whom the inference is to be drawn would be able to procure the missing witness’ physical presence in court . . . .””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.