Commonwealth v. Hoffman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate · 111 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 123 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he language of the prosecuting officer which will justify a reversal must be such that its unavoidable effect would be to prejudice the jury, forming in their minds a fixed bias and hostility toward the defendant, so that they could not fairly weigh in his behalf such circumstances of doubt, extenuation or degree of guilt that may be present in the case, and thus make them unable to render a true verdict.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Wiggins · 253 Pa. Super. 566 - Commonwealth v. Sargent

2. “a realistic appreciation of the humanity of those who sit on our juries, and the legal concept that voluntary manslaughter is by definition a lesser offense than murder but one included in a murder indictment.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bishop v. Mazurkiewicz · 377 Pa. Super. 229 - Commonwealth v. Harner

3. “didn't have the heart of a man, or the soul of a man,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Wiggins