Burnett v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]hen [the jury was] presented with alternate theories of guilt in an instruction, the Commonwealth does not have to show that each juror adhered to the same theory. Rather, the Commonwealth has to show that it has met its burden of proof under all of the alternate theories presented in the instruction. Once that is shown, it becomes irrelevant which theory each individual juror believed.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Johnson v. Commonwealth · King v. Commonwealth

2. “Instruction No. 1 Promoting a Sexual Performance by a Minor You will find the defendant guilty of promoting a sexual performance by a minor under this instruction if, and only if, you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt all of the following: A. That in this county during approximately 1992 — 1994, and before the finding of the indictment herein, the defendant knowingly produced, directed or promoted a performance which included sexual conduct by [A.B.]; AND B. That [A.B.] was then less than sixteen years of age. Instruction No. 2 Definitions 1. " Promote " — Means to prepare, publish, or print. 2. " Performance, " for purposes of this case, means a photograph. 3. " Sexual conduct by a minor, " for purposes of this case, means: (a) [A.B.] willfully or intentionally exhibited his genitals in a lewd manner; OR (b) [A.B.]'s unclothed genitals, pubic area or buttocks were exposed in an obscene manner and the exposure was not of a private, family nature not intended for distribution outside [A.B.]'s family. 4. "Intentionally" — a person acts intentionally with respect to a result or to conduct when his conscious objective is to cause that result or to engage in that conduct. 5. " Lewd manner " — In determining whether [A.B.] exhibited his genitals in a lewd manner under Definition No. 2(a), you may consider the following factors: (1) whether the focal point of the visual depiction was the child's genitalia or pubic area; (2) whether the setting of the visual depicti”

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

3. “[Ujnder the model instruction, the jury is instructed only as to those statutory methods of trafficking that are actually supported by the evidence. Whereas giving the jury the general, statutory definition of trafficking likely will result in the jury being presented with theories of guilt not supported by the evidence. This is exactly what happened in the case at bar.”

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