Commonwealth v. Drayton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “by emphasizing the narrowness of the constitutional principle that governs this case and necessitates our remand.... In the vast majority of cases, the established hearsay exceptions will continue to govern the admissibility of hearsay evidence at most criminal trials, with this constitutional hearsay exception operating only in the rarest of cases, where otherwise inadmissible evidence is both truly critical to the defendant's case and bears persuasive guarantees of trustworthiness.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Drayton · Commonwealth v. Deconinck

2. “'probably would have been a real factor in the jury's deliberations.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Drayton · 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1122 - Commonwealth v. Cooper

3. “plainly would have been critical to the defense”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Drayton · Commonwealth v. Deconinck