Eccles v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

59 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 59 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) to prove motive to commit the crime charged; (2) to establish guilty knowledge or to negate good faith; (3) to negate the possibility of mistake or accident; (4) to show the conduct and feeling of the accused toward his victim, or to establish their prior relations; (5) to prove opportunity; (6) to prove identity of the accused as the one who committed the crime where the prior criminal acts are so distinctive as to indicate a modus operandi; or (7) to demonstrate a common scheme or plan where the other crime or crimes constitute a part of a general scheme of which the crime charged is a part.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lockhart v. Com. · Brown v. Commonwealth

2. “`Since we have no way of knowing the effect the court's admission of testimony as to defendant's prior criminal acts ... had upon the minds of the jury, we cannot say that the error was not prejudicial.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 14 Va. App. 630 - Satterfield v. Commonwealth

3. “should be considered ... only insofar as it might be evidence showing a knowledge of `this particular transaction....'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Wilson v. Com.