Williams v. Com.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

79 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 79 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Rather, the relevant question is, upon review of the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Commonwealth · Vasquez v. Commonwealth

2. “does not ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Commonwealth · Demetrie Lamont Watkins v. Commonwealth of Virginia

3. “[W]hen the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged on appeal, the evidence and all reasonable inferences fairly drawn therefrom must be viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. The trial court’s judgment should be affirmed unless it appears that it is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lamarr Ramon Masean Smith v. Commonwealth of Virginia · Cole v. Commonwealth