32 Va. App. 395 - Williams v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
2000
Citation profile
15
cited by 15 later decisions
1
states following
September 2018
most recently cited
15 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Chapman v. State of California · Delaware v. Van Arsdall · Lilly v. Virginia · Satterwhite v. Texas · Olden v. Kentucky
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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The test ... is not whether laying aside the [error] there was other evidence sufficient to convict beyond a reasonable doubt ..., but, more stringently, “whether there is a reasonable possibility that the [error] complained of might have contributed to the conviction.’ ” In other words, even if “the other evidence amply supports the ... verdicts, [error is not harmless when it] may well have affected the ... decision.” An “emphasis and perhaps overemphasis, upon the [concept] of ‘overwhelming evidence’ ” has the effect of clouding the relevant question “ ‘whether there is a reasonable possibility that the [error] complained of might have contributed to the conviction.’ ” As the Supreme Court has stated, “[t]he correct inquiry is whether, assuming that the damaging potential of the [error] were fully realized, a reviewing court might nonetheless say that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Thus, “a harmless error analysis ... [is not] simply a sufficiency of the evidence analysis.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“[T]he issue is not the credibility of the witness, but rather the potential for harm caused by the erroneous admission of evidence which tends to support the jury’s credibility determination. In that context we must presume that such evidence had the potential to influence the jury into accepting the properly admitted evidence as more credible, and thus, to taint the jury’s determination of the facts.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“`[H]armless error analysis . . . [is not] simply a sufficiency of the evidence analysis.'”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.