Commonwealth v. Sullivan’s Empirical Analysis
1973
Citation profile
1 district · 71 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 72 later decisions — most recently May 2017 · most notably Commonwealth v. Dancer (1975), Commonwealth v. Musi (1979)
1 district · 71 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Miranda v. State of Arizona Vignera · Henry v. State of Mississippi · Commonwealth Ex Rel. Washington v. Maroney · Commonwealth v. Simala · Commonwealth v. Williams
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 72 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“. .. [0]ur inquiry ceases and counsel’s assistance is deemed constitutionally effective once we are able to conclude that the particular course chosen by counsel had some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his client’s interests. The test is not whether other alternatives were more reasonable, employing a hindsight evaluation of the record. Although weigh the alternatives we must, the balance tips in favor of a finding of effective assistance as soon as it is determined that trial counsel’s decision had any reasonable basis.” If a reasonable basis for counsel’s trial strategy exists, that decision is imputed to the appellant. Henry v. Mississippi, 379 U.S. 443 , 85 S.Ct. 564 , 13 L.Ed.2d 408 (1965).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“such essential evidentiary value that [its] need clearly outweighs the likelihood of inflaming the minds and passions of the jurors.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.