Commonwealth v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 9 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. “-that after counsel investigated and notified the government he would offer a defense based partially on Smith’s Tourette’s Syndrome, the government represented that it was prepared to offer expert rebuttal testimony from Smith’s treating neurologist of seventeen years, Dr. Ellis, who would testify that Smith’s Tourette’s Syndrome played no part in the killing; -that counsel’s “own observations of [Smith revealed the] absence of any serious problems manifested by [Smith]’s behavior and appearance”; and -that counsel was concerned the government could effectively argue that Smith’s several “get away with it” statements showed that a Tourette’s-based defense was part of a plan to kill Champagne and avoid criminal responsibility — suggesting premeditation and specific intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Dickhaut