Johnson v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A duplicitous count, whether appearing in an indictment or jury instructions, presents multiple constitutional problems, including that the jury verdict is not unanimous, which is the issue raised in this case. The courts have stated that two of the reasons for rejecting duplicitous indictments are that a general verdict of guilty does not disclose whether the jury found the defendant guilty of one crime or both and that there is no way of knowing ... whether the jury was unanimous with respect to either.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Turner v. Commonwealth · Shively v. Commonwealth

2. “that such a scenario-a general jury verdict based on an instruction including two or more separate instances of a criminal offense, whether explicitly stated in the instruction or based on the proof-violates the requirement of a unanimous verdict.”

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

3. “Our trial judges are being ambushed by such decisions as this one when we so lightly deem palpable error when the .mistake has not been preserved. We are watering down our palpable error standard with holdings such as this to the point that it behooves the defense lawyer not to object on jury instructions and just allow the trial court to walk— unwarned — onto the unanimity land mine. Id. at 461 .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Nery J. Ruiz v. Commonwealth of Kentucky · King v. Commonwealth