Commonwealth v. DeBella’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The district attorney . . . may petition the court for a trial .... If such petition is timely filed ... the court shall notify the person named in the petition and his attorney, the district attorney and the attorney general that a trial by jury will be held within 60 days to determine whether such person is a sexually dangerous person. The trial may be continued upon motion of either party for good cause shown or by the court on its own motion if the interests of justice so require, unless the person named in the petition will be substantially prejudiced thereby. . . .””

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

2. “If after trial, the jury find[ ] unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt that the person named in the petition is a sexually dangerous person, such person shall be committed to the treatment center ... for an indeterminate period of a minimum of one day and a maximum of such person's natural life until discharged pursuant to the provisions of [G. L. c. 123A, § 9 ].”

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

3. “to have cases brought to trial rapidly, but not to deny justice in the interest of expediency.”

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