268 Pa. Super. 191 - Commonwealth v. Durant’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We note that the response of Laura Tate can not be said to have been elicited by defense counsel. Her response could only result from a strong desire on her part to convict the appellant. Such a reference to appellant being in jail served only to convey to the jury the fact that appellant had been convicted of a crime in the past. A reference to prior criminal conduct is highly prejudicial to the appellant serving to effectively strip him of the presumption of innocence. The further issue to be resolved is whether or not this is the type of prejudicial testimony which could have been cured by prompt curative instructions by the court. Because of the nature of the testimonial reference, we find that curative instructions would have been inadequate. (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 335 Pa. Super. 203 - Commonwealth v. Gaerttner

2. “Q. You knew where Ben lived, didn’t you? You knew he lived out in Bressler? A. Yes, but I didn’t know he was here in the city. I didn’t know he was here. I didn’t know he was out of jail, really. I didn’t know he was here until I seen him in my house.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 335 Pa. Super. 203 - Commonwealth v. Gaerttner