Johnson v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1949
Citation profile
19 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 21 later decisions — most recently April 2007
19 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Kavanaugh v. Wheeling · Litton v. Commonwealth · Scott v. Commonwealth · Thomas v. Commonwealth · Mercer v. Commonwealth
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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he jury were [sic] not required to shut their eyes to all these facts and circumstances and accept the explanation of the [stabbing] as offered by the defendant’s words. The facts and circumstances spoke much louder and more convincingly. His claim that it was accidental was to be examined in the light of his conduct. When so examined, the jury did not believe him and refused to accept his version.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““All these presumptions arise from facts proved. They are, of course, rebuttable, and serve merely to put the burden on the defendant to introduce evidence to explain or excuse. When he does so, then it is for the jury to say whether upon his evidence and all the other evidence there is a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilt.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“When the Commonwealth has proved the commission of a homicide, and has pointed out the accused as the criminal agent, then it may rest its case, and unless the accused shows circumstances of justification, alleviation or excuse, a verdict of murder in the second degree will be warranted.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.