Commonwealth v. Johnston’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 26 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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “benefit of changes in decisional law ... announced after trial and pending his direct review”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 399 - Commonwealth v. Taranovsky · 95 Mass. App. Ct. 437 - Commonwealth v. Smith

2. “At about 9 a.m. the same day two West-field police officers went to the defendant’s apartment and asked him to accompany them to Noble Hospital in Westfield for a psychiatric evaluation that was ordered by a District Court judge pursuant to G.L. c. 123, § 12, on the application of his parents. The defendant refused to comply and a struggle ensued. The defendant was subdued through the use of pepper spray. In the meantime, Amherst and State police investigators were given the name of the defendant by the victim’s girlfriend. They went to the defendant’s apartment in Westfield and were made aware of the defendant’s civil commitment. The defendant’s father consented to a search of his own car, which contained some items he and his wife had removed from the defendant’s apartment for their son’s safety, including a .38 caliber handgun. The defendant’s father also consented to a search of the defendant’s apartment. Among the items recovered from the two locations were a .223 caliber magazine having a capacity of ninety rounds, and a loaded .40 caliber Sig Sauer pistol. The next day, December 8, investigators returned to the defendant’s apartment with a search warrant. They recovered several items, including a “fanny” pack containing hypodermic syringes and bottles of two different anabolic steroids. From a dumpster at the apartment complex, investigators also recovered a gun case capable of holding a rifle.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Johnston v. Mitchell

3. “However, if the Commonwealth has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant consumed drugs or alcohol knowing or having reason to know that the drugs or alcohol would activate a latent mental disease or intensify an active mental disease, causing her to lose the substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct or the substantial capacity to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law, then you would be warranted in finding the defendant criminally responsible for a crime in which you find she knowingly participated. In deciding what the defendant had reason to know about the consequences of her consumption of drugs or alcohol, you should consider the question solely from the defendant's point of view, including her mental capacity and her past experience with drugs or alcohol.”

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