Spears v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Spears [in challenging his enhanced penalty] complains that the order book of the Pulaski Quarterly Court in which the July 1952 judgment was recorded was not signed until the trial for the 1970 violation. The judge of the Pulaski Quarterly Court signed the 1952 order book over the objection of Spears. Spears asserts that this constituted prejudicial error and relies upon Blanton v. Castle, Ky., 450 S.W.2d 818 (1970). That case, however, dealt with the procedural effect of nonsignature of a quarterly court order book on the appealability of a judgment recorded therein. Green v. Commonwealth, Ky., 413 S.W.2d 329 (1967), is dispositive of the argument of Spears in the aspect in which it is presented. In the Green case we held in a prosecution identical with the one with which we are here concerned that the question is not whether the quarterly court judgment is procedurally perfect. When the judge of the Pulaski Quarterly Court signed the order book the 1952 conviction became valid for all purposes and adequately evidenced the conviction of Spears for the offense recited therein. No question of the judgment's finality is presented. The prosecution proved that it had been appealed and upheld a long time before the present trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hargrave v. Commonwealth