Chenault v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The foregoing statement presents the unqualified case of an indictment of one, charged with the highest degree of felony known to the law, and for which the accused may be called upon to forfeit his life, and which was committed only fifteen days before the return of the indictment, and the trial of which was forced upon him over his' objections the next morning when previously employed counsel was absent without his fault and then and there appointed counsel were given no time whatever to familiarize themselves with the facts of the case. Without prior decisions as precedents it would seem that the situation imperatively required the granting of reasonable time within which appointed counsel might acquaint themselves with the facts sufficiently to present their client’s cause in a way to assure him a fair trial, and to thereby uphold the dignity of the law in its constant and consistent declaration — as contained in our Constitution and opinions from this court — that one accused of crime is entitled to a fair trial.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Luntz v. Commonwealth