Messmear v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It was made plain in Cotton v. Commonwealth, Ky., 454 S.W.2d 698 , and in Cowan v. Commonwealth, Ky., 407 S.W.2d 695 , and in a line of cases preceding them that the only purpose of permitting evidence of prior conviction of felony is for impeachment. CR 43.07. In no circumstance is it proper for the prosecutor to equate a prior felony conviction with a ‘track record.’ Although the prosecuting attorney told the jury that the prior conviction had to do only with the question of veracity, in almost the same breath he insisted that the prior conviction was equatable with a ‘track record’ and pointedly argued that it was reasonable to suppose that appellant had committed incest in 1970 because that was in keeping with his ‘track record’ of having committed an earlier felony. This was error and prejudicial error, requiring a new trial.””

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

2. “evidence of other sex activities of the same nature committed with and upon the same person is competent”

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