Coleman v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

65 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 67 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[i]n the prosecution for two crimes in the same trial, the double jeopardy defense does not apply unless (a) the defendant is twice punished for one criminal act, and (b) the two punishments are either for the same crime or one punishment is for a crime which is a lesser included offense of the other.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 56 Va. App. 133 - King v. Commonwealth · Charles Stanard Severance v. Commonwealth of Virginia

2. “[i]n applying the Blockburger test, we look at the offenses charged in the abstract, without referring to the particular facts of the case under review.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 38 Va. App. 421 - Ragsdale v. Commonwealth · 58 Va. App. 704 - Tharrington v. Commonwealth

3. “the role of the constitutional guarantee is limited to assuring that the court does not exceed its legislative authorization by imposing multiple punishments for the same offense.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 47 Va. App. 114 - Walker v. Commonwealth · West v. DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS