Commonwealth v. Ellis’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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “to determine whether there has been a significant error of law or other abuse of discretion.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1116 - Commonwealth v. McCants · 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1117 - Commonwealth v. Brace

2. “[W]here a defendant 'raises no new factual or legal issue' in a motion [for new trial] and simply seeks to relitigate a motion that was previously denied by the motion judge and rejected on direct appeal, 'principles of direct estoppel operate as a bar to the defendant's attempt ... to relitigate issues'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1129 - Commonwealth v. Dutcher · 93 Mass. App. Ct. 1117 - Commonwealth v. Brace

3. “The determination of whether newly discovered evidence would have been a real factor in the jury's deliberations requires that the new evidence be considered in light of the totality of the evidence presented at trial ...”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 94 Mass. App. Ct. 1115 - Commonwealth v. Rosa