Commonwealth v. Gilbert’s Empirical Analysis
1996
Citation profile
38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 38 later decisions — most recently October 2018 · most notably Commonwealth v. Cintron (2001), Commonwealth v. Leftwich (2000)
38 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 Jackson v. Virginia · Commonwealth v. Latimore · Young v. United States ex rel. Vuitton · Commonwealth v. Kelley · Commonwealth v. Beckett
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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ ‘[The] question is whether, after viewing the evidence [and all permissible inferences] in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.’ Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 677 (1979), quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 318-319 (1979). See Mass. R. Crim. P. 25(a), 378 Mass. 896 (1979). The question of guilt cannot be left to conjecture or surmise. Commonwealth v. Anderson, 396 Mass. 306, 312 (1985). Mere opportunity to commit the crime or presence at the scene is insufficient without other evidence. Commonwealth v. Cordle, 404 Mass. 733, 742 (1989), and cases cited. However, circumstantial evidence is competent to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Nadwomy, 396 Mass. 342, 354 (1985), cert, denied, All U.S. 904 (1986). An inference drawn from circumstantial evidence ‘need only be reasonable and possible; it need not be necessary or inescapable.’ Commonwealth v. Beckett, 373 Mass. 329, 341 (1977).””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[a]n inference drawn from circumstantial evidence 'need only be reasonable and possible; it need not be necessary or inescapable.'”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“[C]ircumstantial evidence is competent to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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.