Commonwealth v. Walker’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
18 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 18 later decisions — most recently December 1991
18 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 Commonwealth v. Roscioli · Commonwealth v. Cannon · Commonwealth v. Goins · Commonwealth v. Raymond
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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The challenged statement was merely an attempt to narrow the issues for the jury’s consideration. In view of the length of time that appellant was alleged to have been in the bar and subject to observation by Mr. Jones, who by virtue of their prior relationship would have no difficulty in recognizing the appellant, the question of mistaken identity was clearly not in the case. As the trial judge properly pointed out, the case essentially turned upon the credibility of irreconcilably conflicting testimony. In such a situation, it was clearly proper for the trial judge to exercise his right to clarify the issues for jury.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“(emphasis added by Supreme Court) and held that this statement simply indicated what the Commonwealth's evidence if believed tended to establish. We find the present case to be more in line with Walker and Woodward . The court succinctly stated the issue before the jury and then made a passing comment as to its opinion, immediately followed by a statement that it was for the jury to determine. The court continually, throughout its charge noted that the jury was the sole factfinder. Accordingly, we find no reversible error; even if the comment:”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“now if you believe beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant shot and killed the victim under the circumstances as the Commonwealth has proved to you.”
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.