Commonwealth v. Wortham’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
20
cited by 20 later decisions
1
states following
October 1981
most recently cited
20 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Chapman v. State of California · Commonwealth v. Yount · Commonwealth v. Bonomo · Commonwealth v. Ford · Commonwealth v. Jones
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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Positive testimony that the challenged item is the actual weapon used in the commission of the crime is not required prior to its introduction into evidence... All that is demanded is that a proper foundation be laid revealing circumstances sufficient to justify an inference of the likelihood of the weapon’s use in the course of crime. . . Furthermore, the admission of such demonstrative evidence is a matter within the discretion of the trial judge, and absent an abuse of discretion, that decision will not be disturbed. Commonwealth v. Wortham, supra, 235 Pa.Super. at 31 and at 763, 342 A.2d 759 .”
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.