Commonwealth v. Davis’s Empirical Analysis
1973
Citation profile
154 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 154 later decisions — most recently February 2018 · most notably Commonwealth v. Story (1978), Commonwealth v. Bighum (1973)
154 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 Chapman v. State of California · In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Griffin v. California · Malloy v. Hogan · Harrington v. California
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 154 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“a conclusion that the properly admitted evidence is `so overwhelming' and the prejudicial effect of the ... error is `so insignificant' by comparison, that it is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that the error is harmless, is not to be arrived at lightly.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“`honest, fair minded jurors might very well have brought in not guilty verdicts,'”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent““Here, where appellant neither testified at trial nor offered any other defense, the ‘ . . . prosecutor’s statement [s] implied that the . . . [defendant himself was] the only [one] who could and should have denied the charges against [him]. The jury might reasonably have inferred from [these] statement [s] that [his] failure to do so was evidence of [his] guilt.’ Commonwealth v. Reichard, 211 Pa.Super. 55, 60 , 233 A.2d 603, 606 (1967). Such an inference is patently contrary to the mandate of Griffin [v. California, 380 U.S. 609 , 85 S.Ct. 1229 , 14 L.Ed.2d 106 (1965)].” At page 174, 305 A.2d at page 717 . “Not only were appellant’s rights under the United States Constitution violated, but also his rights under Article 1, § 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, and the Act of May 23, 1887 which implements it. It is well settled that any comment by the prosecution or the court violates the Act of 1887 if it ‘ . draws attention to or focuses on the fact that no one except the defendant can rebut the Commonwealth’s case. . . . ’ Reichard, supra, 211 Pa.Super. at 58 , 233 A.2d at 604 . It is obvious, on this record, that the prosecutor’s comments clearly did that which is prohibited by the Act. ‘We think the assistant district attorney went too far, both under the Act of 1887 and under the Fifth Amendment proscription as enunciated in Griffin. Commonwealth v. Camm, 443 Pa. 253, 268 , 277 A.2d 325, 333 (1971).” At pages 176-77, 305 A.2d at pages 718-719. (Emphasis in original.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.