Johnson v. United States’s Empirical Analysis
269 F.2d 72 · 1959
Citation profile
33 federal appellate ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 33 later decisions — most recently December 1985 · most notably Saunders v. United States (1963), United States v. Smaldone (1973)
33 federal appellate ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 3500
Relies on Jencks v. United States · Palermo v. United States · Edgington v. United States · Scales v. United States · Miller v. United States
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 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Evidence that the defendants were persons of good character and had a good reputation in the community where they lived prior to the alleged commission of the offense charged in the indictment has been introduced. Such evidence is competent and is to be considered in connection with other evidence in the case. Such evidence is admitted upon the theory that a man bearing a good reputation for being an honest and law-abiding citizen is not as likely to commit a crime as one who doesn't bear such a reputation. Of course, a good reputation is not a defense to the charge made by the Government in this case, but it may be sufficient to generate a reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant, and it is a circumstance to be weighed by the jury in connection with all of the other evidence in the case.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Whatever may have been said in some of the earlier cases, to the effect that evidence of the good character of the defendant is not to be considered unless the other evidence leaves the mind in doubt, the decided weight of authority now is that good character, when considered in connection with the other evidence in the case, may generate a reasonable doubt. The circumstances may be such that an established reputation for good character, if it is relevant to the issue, would alone create a reasonable doubt, although without it the other evidence would be convincing.”
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.