Commonwealth v. Robinson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Instantly, the Commonwealth provided Appellees during discovery with DVD copies of all the victims’ PCA interviews. Despite this disclosure, Appellees filed motions to compel as well verbatim written .transcripts of all video interviews, alleging the transcripts were necessary for -effective cross-examination and, impeachment of the victims because playing the video interviews during cross-examination would be- inefficient and cause unnecessary delay. The court granted the motions and ordered the Commonwealth to transcribe the interviews. When the Commonwealth ultimately demurred, the court precluded the Commonwealth from' calling the victims to testify at Appellees’- respective trials. We think the court’s action was in error. The Commonwealth has no duty to provide evidence in a form that the defendant demands for the convenience of the defense. Appellees had no general right of discovery. Once the Commonwealth disclosed the victims’ video DVD interviews, the evidence was no longer in the exclusive control of the Commonwealth. Thus, the evidence was equally available to Appellees in a source other than a written transcript.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Maldonodo