Commonwealth v. Britt’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 35 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “in cases tried hereafter, juries should not be instructed that the Commonwealth must prove that a joint venturer knew that the principal was armed to return a conviction of murder based on deliberate premeditation”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 94 Mass. App. Ct. 815 - Commonwealth v. Bannister · 100 Mass. App. Ct. 399 - COMMONWEALTH v. PATRICK MALONE.

2. “the requirement of knowledge of a weapon in the context of murder in the first degree on a joint venture theory applies only where the conviction is for felony-murder and the underlying felony has as one of its elements the use or possession of a weapon.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 100 Mass. App. Ct. 399 - COMMONWEALTH v. PATRICK MALONE.

3. “[T]he Commonwealth also has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that either he, himself, was armed with a gun or that Mr. Cooper was armed with a gun, his so-called joint venturer, or that he knew that both were armed with a gun.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 94 Mass. App. Ct. 815 - Commonwealth v. Bannister