Noakes v. Com.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 27 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The crime of common law involuntary manslaughter has two elements: (1) the accidental killing of a person, contrary to the intention of the parties; and (2) the death occurs in the defendant’s prosecution of an unlawful but not felonious act, or in the defendant’s improper performance of a lawful act. To constitute involuntary manslaughter, the “improper” performance of a lawful act must amount to an unlawful commission of that lawful act, manifesting criminal negligence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Carroll Edward Gregg, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia

2. “when acts of a wanton or willful character, committed or omitted, show a reckless or indifferent disregard of the rights of others, under circumstances reasonably calculated to produce injury, or which make it not improbable that injury will be occasioned, and the offender knows, or is charged with the knowledge of, the probable results of his [or her] acts.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sotnikau v. Lynch

3. “[W]e review `the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the prevailing party in the [trial] court' and `accord the Commonwealth the benefit of all reasonable inferences deducible from the evidence.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Com. v. McNeal