Washington v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

68 federal appellate · 11 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Washington’s final complaint is that the court erred in permitting Robinson to testify, over objections, that he had been told by several people that he could purchase narcotics from Washington. There is no merit in this contention. Once the defense of entrapment has been raised, it is proper to inquire into the reputation of the defendant to determine his predisposition to commit the offense or to inquire into the reasonableness of the officer’s conduct. [citing cases] The trial judge properly instructed the jury to consider such testimony only for the limited purpose of determining if Robinson had good cause to believe that Washington was trafficking in narcotics. There was no objection to the charge. The testimony was properly admissible for this limited purpose.” Id. 275 F.2d at 690 .”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Whiting v. United States · United States v. McClain

2. “"* * * Under Sorrells, Sherman, and Masciale, the issue of entrapment is a question for the jury, unless as a matter of law the defendant has established beyond a reasonable doubt that he was entrapped. * * * [citing cases] In determining if there has been entrapment as a matter of law this Court has considered not only the predisposition of the accused but has weighed also the conduct of the government agents. * * *"”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 41 Ala. App. 85 - Lindsay v. State