Commonwealth v. Valentin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The critical questions are whether the * weapons-related evidence is relevant and, if so, whether the probative value of the evidence is substantially outweighed by its prejudicial effect”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Collazo · 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1115 - Commonwealth v. Pech

2. “Where a weapon definitively could not have been used in the commission of the crime, we have generally cautioned against admission of evidence related to it”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Imbert · Commonwealth v. Collazo

3. “Prosecutors must limit the scope of their closing arguments to facts in evidence and the fair inferences that may be drawn therefrom.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1123 - Commonwealth v. Ferrie · 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1104 - Commonwealth v. Woolf