Commonwealth v. Boateng’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 36 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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “THE COURT: Yes Mr. Boateng, we are talking about [the medical examiner] Dr. Kessler and the fact that your lawyer represents him in a civil matter. Now he says that he talked to you about that a couple of times. DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor. THE COURT: And that from the nature of this case, in the way in which this case is going to be tried, that his understanding of your position is the fact that he is representing him in this civil matter, and that represents, in a technical sense, a conflict of interest, that your position is that you have no objection to his representing you and having to question Dr. Kessler in your behalf and the like, all of those questions that surround that subject. Is that so? DEFENDANT: Yes, Your Honor. THE COURT: All right. Thank you. THE COURT: I would just say this to you: — you can stay where you are, Mr. Boa-teng — that you are always a little bit concerned about situations where there is a conflict of interest, because you can't always reach out and deal with situations when you don’t anticipate them, when they happen in the course of a trial. Sometimes, for example, a witness says something which you didn't know about ahead of time, and its necessary for the lawyer to take a rather forceful position with the witness, for example, really cross-examine that witness. So that when you deal with the situation in advance, like we are here, and you say that you are agreeable to this lawyer, under these circumstances acting as your lawyer, you have to”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco

2. “On learning of the dual representation, the trial judge conducted an inquiry of [petitioner] to determine whether his decision to continue with his trial counsel was intelligently made. The judge asked [petitioner] several questions in regard to the potential conflict, and received assurances that he found to be informed and adequate. While the colloquy ... did not elicit the type of narrative responses for which we expressed preference ... this does not mean it was inadequate. We are satisfied that any deficiency in the colloquy as it appears in the transcript was due less to the diligence of the judge in ensuring that the decision was knowing and voluntary than to the reticence of the defendant. [Petitioner] knowingly and voluntarily assented to the dual representation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco

3. “whether there was an error in the course of the trial (by defense counsel ...) and, if there was, whether that error was likely to have influenced the jury's conclusion.” Boateng, 781 N.E.2d at 1216 (quoting Commonwealth v. Wright, 411 Mass. 678 , 584 N.E.2d 621 (1992)).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yeboah-Sefah v. Ficco