Gersten v. Senkowski’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 1 district · 20 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 73 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]n a case where the only direct evidence that any crime occurred or that, if it did, the [defendant] committed it, was the testimony of the alleged victim, for defense counsel to simply concede the medical evidence without any investigation into whether it could be challenged was performance that ... could not ... be objectively reasonable.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jackson v. Conway · Usher v. Ercole

2. “[I]t must be noted that the prosecution’s entire case rested on the credibility of the alleged victim. All other evidence presented by the prosecution was indirect evidence offered to corroborate aspects of the alleged victim’s story. Defense counsel’s failure to investigate the prosecution’s evidence led him to decide not to challenge what was clearly the most significant corroborative evidence — the medical expert testimony that the physical condition of the alleged victim supported a conclusion that penetration had taken place. Counsel’s decision not to consult with or call an expert precluded counsel from offering a potentially persuasive affirmative argument that the alleged victim’s condition was not indicative of or consistent with forced sexual penetration. Not only was the evidence against petitioner relatively thin, but most of it could have been, but was not, effectively challenged by defense experts or an informed cross-examination. The victim’s credibility, the psychological expert’s bolstering, and the medical expert testimony concluding that penetration had taken place, all could have been seriously undermined had petitioner’s counsel offered the expert testimony that was available but that he failed to discover. As noted, where the record evidence in support of a guilty verdict is thin, as it is here, there is more likely to be prejudice. This is even more true where counsel’s failures go to something as important as the medical evidence in this case' — the on”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Usher v. Ercole · Hibbler v. State

3. “failed to consult or call an expert or to educate . . . himself sufficiently on the scientific issues.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Pruitt, M., Aplt. · McCloud v. State