38 Va. App. 116 - Carter v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It shall be unlawful for (i) any person who has been convicted of a felony or (ii) any person under the age of twenty-nine who was found guilty as a juvenile fourteen years of age or older ... to knowingly and intentionally possess ... any firearm ... any person who violates this section ... shall not be eligible for probation, and shall be sentenced to a minimum, mandatory term of imprisonment of five years.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 45 Va. App. 518 - Conkling v. Commonwealth · Christian John Prekker v. Commonwealth of Virginia

2. “in fashioning a statute to protect the public from the threat of dangerously armed felons, the legislature expressly included within the statutory proscription all persons previously “found guilty,” while juveniles, of a “delinquent act,” deemed felonious. Subsequent reference in Code § 18.2-308.2(A) to “conviction or adjudication” simply recognizes terms that sometimes differentiate determinations of guilt in juvenile and adult prosecutions. Thus, the inclusive language, “any person,” which appears in the punishment provisions of the statute, clearly embraces anyone found in violation of the prohibition. Contrary to defendant’s argument, the statutory language promotes inclusion, not exclusion. A different interpretation would exempt dangerous felons, with demonstrated violent propensities, from a mandated punishment intended to enhance public protection, a narrow and illogical construction at odds with legislative intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Christian John Prekker v. Commonwealth of Virginia

3. “Well established principles of statutory construction require us to ascertain and give effect to the legislative intent. The plain, obvious, and rational meaning of a statute is always preferred to any curious, narrow or strained construction; a statute should never be construed so that it leads to absurd results. Thus, it is a basic rule of statutory construction that a word in a statute is to be given its everyday, ordinary meaning unless the word is a term of art. Because the Code of Virginia is one body of law, we may consult other statutes using the same phraseology to assist us in divining legislative intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 45 Va. App. 518 - Conkling v. Commonwealth