21 Va. App. 473 - Howard v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1995
Citation profile
14 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on 12 Va. App. 476 - Campbell v. Commonwealth · 4 Va. App. 317 - McGee v. Commonwealth · Spangler v. Commonwealth · 3 Va. App. 163 - Head v. Commonwealth · 3 Va. App. 231 - White 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The Commonwealth asserts that the trial court reasonably could have inferred physical helplessness from the fact the victim went to a neighbor's apartment shortly after the alleged incident, partially clothed, before vomiting and collapsing. The Commonwealth highlights the fact that the victim could not recognize her parents for a period of hours and passed in and out of consciousness after being taken to the hospital, where doctors determined she was intoxicated. However, assuming the victim was intoxicated to the point of being physically unable to communicate at the time she exited the apartment, this does not prove she was intoxicated to the same degree when she engaged in sexual intercourse with appellant. Even in conjunction with other evidence, the Commonwealth's case was not strong enough to prove appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In so holding, we find the following admonition appropriate: "[t]he conduct of [appellant] cannot be condoned. It was disgraceful. It was enough to shame one steeped in moral infamy. But he was not tried for that. Rape was the charge laid at his door and the Commonwealth's evidence fail[ed] to sustain it."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“This Court has held that in a bench trial, where a defendant wishes to preserve a sufficiency motion after presenting evidence, the defendant must make a motion to strike at the conclusion of all the evidence, present an appropriate argument in summation, or make a motion to set aside the verdict.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[t]he conduct of [appellant] cannot be condoned. It was disgraceful. It was enough to shame one steeped in moral infamy. But he was not tried for that. Rape was the charge laid at his door and the Commonwealth's evidence fail[ed] to sustain it.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.