Commonwealth v. Wilson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We are inclined to adopt the same view of this issue as that stated by Judge Hoffman in his dissenting opinion in the Superior Court, Commonwealth v. Wilson, 216 Pa.Super. 203 , 263 A.2d 762 (1970): “Here there is totally lacking any evidence to suggest that appellant was in the vicinity of his former mother-in-law’s home when the fire was started. The introduction of testimony concerning the unrelated fire may be seen as an attempt to confuse the jury by implying that since he had been present at the second fire, he may well have been present at the first. Thus the Commonwealth heaped innuendo upon innuendo without basis or justification.” Id., 444 Pa. at 120 , 281 A.2d at 865 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 287 Pa. Super. 202 - Commonwealth v. Dolan

2. ““The law is clear that a layman cannot render an opinion as to mental condition.””

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