Commonwealth v. Lambert’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Length of deliberations; deadlocked jury. (a) Before the jury retires for deliberation, the court may give an instruction which informs the jury: (i) that in order to return a verdict, each juror must agree thereto; (ii) that jurors have a duty to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement, if it can be done without violence to individual judgment; (iii) that each juror must decide the case for himself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with his fellow jurors; (iv) that in the course of deliberation, a juror should not hesitate to reexamine his own views and change his opinion if convinced it is erroneous; and (v) that no juror should surrender his honest conviction as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of his fellow jurors, or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict.””

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

2. ““The appellant’s contention that the charge given in the instant case had the same coercive impact as the now discredited Allen charge, see Allen v. United States, 164 U.S. 492 , 17 S.Ct. 154 , 41 L.Ed. 528 (1896), is meritless. Whereas the Allen charge specifically directed minority jurors to listen with deference to the majority position, the charge set out in Section 5.4(a) of the Minimum Standards and given in this case charges that all jurors ‘have a duty to consult with one another . . .”

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