Commonwealth v. Simmons’s Empirical Analysis
1948
Citation profile
12 federal appellate · 148 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 166 later decisions — most recently December 2010 · most notably Commonwealth v. Kloiber (1954), Chisley v. State (1953)
12 federal appellate · 148 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Kercheval v. United States · United States v. Mitchell · Commonwealth v. Williams · Commonwealth v. Spardute · Commonwealth v. Petrillo
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 166 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“in order to aid the jury in its function of fixing the penalty if they found the crime to be one of murder in the first degree * * *.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“It is true * * * that the question of intoxication was important in connection with the determination of the penalty * * *.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“Now, I am making a comment, I think it would be a miscarriage of justice if you found this defendant not guilty, because I think in my reasoning and in my circumstances, as I have thought them out and reasoned them out, that I should and do have a right to make this comment. But please remember that in the last analysis it is entirely and completely and finally for you to say whether it should be murder in the first degree, murder in the second degree, voluntary manslaughter, or not guilty. . . . It is entirely up to you, members of the jury. You have seen everybody, you have heard everything; you have seen the demonstration, you have seen the exhibits, you have seen the maps, you have heard everything, and you have been very attentive. Use your heads, think it out, and then come out with one of these four verdicts.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.