Commonwealth v. McWilliams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When reviewing a motion for a required finding of not guilty, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Latimore , 378 Mass. 671 , 676-677 (1979). We must consider whether ' any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.' Id . at 677 , quoting Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307 , 318-319 (1979).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1117 - Commonwealth v. Andrews

2. “so suggestive that there is a substantial risk that they influenced the witness's identification of the defendant, inflated his or her level of certainty in the identification, or altered his or her memory of the circumstances of the operative event.”

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

3. “a person is still in preparatory mode and has not committed the last act necessary to achieve the [substantive] crime,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1107 - Commonwealth v. Villanueva