Hendrickson v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

29 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Whether a witness is an accomplice in the commission of a crime is a question of fact to be ascertained from the evidence. And where the evidence is conflicting as to whether the witness participated in the commission of the crime, or where upon the evidence, as a matter of law, the court cannot hold that the witness was an accomplice of the accused in its commission, it is a question to be determined by the jury. In such case the court should instruct the jury as to what constitutes an accomplice, and leave it for them to determine whether the witness was in fact an accomplice; and this they must ascertain mentally, ‘as our method of criminal procedure submits only the general issue to the jury, and does not admit of answer by them to any intermediary questions in the record.’ If the jury is of the opinion that the witness was an accomplice, it should acquit the accused, unless the corroborating evidence exists. But where the facts are not in dispute, or where the acts and conduct of the witness are admitted, it becomes a question of law for the court to say whether or not those acts and facts make the witness an accomplice.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ringstaff v. Commonwealth