Commonwealth v. Sanford’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “on a claim that potentially exculpatory evidence has been lost or destroyed by the government ... the defendant must demonstrate the exculpatory nature of the destroyed evidence, by establishing a reasonable possibility, based on concrete evidence rather than a fertile imagination, that access to the [material] would have produced evidence favorable to his cause.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1107 - Commonwealth v. Resto

2. “the imposition of sanctions under [Mass.R.Crim.P.] 14 (c), [as appearing in 442 Mass. 1518 (2004),] is governed by these principles: 'First, sanctions are remedial in nature. Second, sanctions should be tailored appropriately to cure any prejudice resulting from a party's noncompliance and to ensure a fair trial'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1107 - Commonwealth v. Resto

3. “If a defendant is unable to meet this threshold burden, he may be independently entitled to a remedy of exclusion if the loss or destruction of evidence was due to the bad faith or reckless acts of the Commonwealth.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1107 - Commonwealth v. Resto