Commonwealth v. Jerman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the circuit court in Fishback had the opportunity to consider during trial whether to instruct the jury on the recent statutory changes concerning parole. Although the instructions that the defendant proffered did not accurately reflect the statutory changes, we nevertheless concluded that the circuit court was required to correct the instructions and give them in their accurate form.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 39 Va. App. 72 - James W. Waters, Jr v. Commonwealth

2. ““ ‘the trial court is not required to amend or correct an erroneous instruction, but ... when the principle of law is materially vital to a defendant in a criminal case, it is reversible error for the trial court to refuse a defective instruction instead of correcting it and giving it in the proper form.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 39 Va. App. 72 - James W. Waters, Jr v. Commonwealth

3. “The perceived futility of an objection does not excuse a defendant's procedural default at trial.”

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