Brown v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

46 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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We have found cumulative error only where the individual errors were themselves substantial, bordering, at least, on the prejudicial.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Mason v. Commonwealth · Walker v. Commonwealth

2. “As this Court noted in Brown: Jury selection in criminal cases in Kentucky is governed by RCr 9.30 through RCr 9.40 and Part Two of the Administrative Procedures of the Court of Justice. Under these provisions the trial court is vested with broad discretion to oversee the entire process, from summoning the venire to choosing the petit jury which actually hears and decides the case. Fields v. Commonwealth, 274 S.W.3d 375 (Ky.2008); Soto v. Commonwealth, 139 S.W.3d 827 (Ky.2004). Our review of the rulings [Appellant] challenges is thus limited to determining whether the trial court abused that discretion, that is, whether the ruling can be characterized as arbitrary, unreasonable, or contrary to sound legal principles. Commonwealth v. English, 993 S.W.2d 941 (Ky.1999).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Dunlap v. Commonwealth · Meece v. Commonwealth

3. “[I]t is the trial court’s difficult task to distinguish between potential jurors whose [contrasting statements] reflect[ ] merely careful thinking and a strong sense of responsibility in the face of such an important decision and those jurors whose [contrasting statements] signal[] an impaired ability to abide by the jury instructions and to give to capital punishment the consideration Kentucky law requires. Because this distinction will often be anything but clear and will hinge to a large extent on the trial court’s estimate of the potential juror’s demeanor, the decision is one particularly within the trial court’s discretion and is subject to reversal on appeal only for an abuse thereof. Uttecht, supra.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. White v. Com. of Ky. · Meece v. Commonwealth