Commonwealth v. Brian Libby’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “Such a notice requirement reasonably could not be applied to a person who is in custody only because of an inability to post bail, who could obtain immediate release upon posting bail.... If the Legislature had contemplated that an SDP petition could be filed after a person's arrest while that person was in custody awaiting a bail determination or seeking the funds to post bail, it would have recognized this possibility in its notice provision”

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

2. “[I]t would be unreasonable to strip the words 'prisoner or youth' from their context in § 12 ( b ), apply their dictionary definitions, and conclude that the Legislature intended that a district attorney may file an SDP petition against any prisoner or youth, as those words are commonly used.”

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

3. “against a person who has been convicted of a sexual offense only where the person is in custody because of a criminal conviction, an adjudication as a delinquent juvenile or youthful offender, or a judicial finding that the person is incompetent to stand trial.”

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