Commonwealth v. Purdy’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

64 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 64 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[B]efore admitting an electronic communication in evidence, a judge must determine whether sufficient evidence exists 'for a reasonable jury to find by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant authored' the communication.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 438 - Commonwealth v. Alden · Commonwealth v. Webster

2. “'confirming circumstances' that would allow a reasonable jury to conclude that [a piece of] evidence is what its proponent claims it to be.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 303 - Commonwealth v. Meola · 93 Mass. App. Ct. 438 - Commonwealth v. Alden

3. “[a]ppearance, contents, substance, internal patterns, or other distinctive characteristics”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 303 - Commonwealth v. Meola · 95 Mass. App. Ct. 372 - R.S. v. A.P.B.