McDaniel v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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. “The test for abuse of discretion is whether the trial judge's decision was arbitrary, unreasonable, unfair, or unsupported by sound legal principles.”

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

2. “Appellant’s first issue with the testimony of Dr. Borzada is that the doctor was allowed to briefly testify to his education and training experience. Appellant claims that, if Dr. Borzada was testifying as a lay witness, he should not have been allowed to testify as to his qualifications. Appellant does not cite any .cases holding that a lay witness may not. answer questions about his background. Obviously, background information is relevant to jurors in that it aids in assessing the credibility of fact witnesses and in determining the weight to give their testimony — questions within the unique province of the jury. Whether Dr. Borzada was testifying as a lay witness or as an expert, there was nothing inappropriate with the Commonwealth establishing his credibility by inquiring into his background.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State of West Virginia v. Jeremy Lambert

3. “[t]he Evidence Rules Review Commission Notes regarding KRE 701 indicate that subsection (c) is specifically intended to combat the possibility of counsel avoiding the reliability standards set out in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals , 509 U.S. 579 , 113 S.Ct. 2786 , 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993)"by the simple process of offering 'scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge' evidence through a witness that an attorney sought to identify as a 'lay witness.' "”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Adams v. Commonwealth