Commonwealth v. Santos’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"By 'circumstances,' we mean that the witness may testify to his or her observations of the complainant during the complaint; the events or conversations that culminated in the complaint; the timing of the complaint; and other relevant conditions that might help a jury assess the veracity of the complainant's allegations or assess the specific defense theories as to why the complainant is making a false allegation."”

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

2. “The first complaint doctrine . . . does not 'prohibit the admissibility of evidence that, while barred by that doctrine, is otherwise independently admissible'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. COMMONWEALTH v. CHRISTOPER F. HOIME.