Star v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The constitutionality of guilty but mentally ill verdicts has been an issue courts across this country have faced. “To date no case has been found in which an appellate court has held a guilty but mentally ill statute to be unconstitutional.” Debra T. Landis, J.D., “Guilty But Mentally III” Statutes: Validity and Construction, 71 A.L.R.4th 702, 707 (1989). It has long been held that a statute enacted by the General Assembly carries a strong presumption of constitutionality. Martinez v. Commonwealth, 72 S.W.3d 581, 584 (Ky.2002). A statute will not be invalidated as unconstitutional unless it clearly, unequivocally, and completely violates provisions of the Constitution. Cornelison v. Commonwealth, 52 S.W.3d 570, 572 (Ky.2001). Further, the party questioning the constitutionality of a statute bears the burden of proving its contention. Id. at 572-73 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Dunlap v. Commonwealth

2. “[t]he correct inquiry is whether, assuming that the damaging potential of the cross-examination were fully realized, a reviewing court might nonetheless say that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Armstrong