Commonwealth v. Bridge’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Thus since the issue was the sufficiency of the provocation, the trial court would have been sustained for excluding testimony relating to intoxication for this purpose even if the verdict returned was a degree of murder. It necessarily follows that if the challenged evidence was not relevant to reduce the degree of homicide to voluntary manslaughter, which appellant gratuitiously [sic] received from the jury, it was also not relevant to reduce the offense to an even lesser degree of manslaughter. Appellant seeks to focus the attention on the volitional aspect of voluntary manslaughter and argues that the degree of intoxication would reflect an involuntary act thus justifying its relevance. The fallacy in that position is that if the evidence failed to provide a basis for negating the malicious state of mind it obviously would not establish a non malicious, non volitional act. Even accepting that appellant proved his claimed “serious” provocation on the part of the victim, his malicious response would not constitute involuntary manslaughter. At best a non-intended result springing from a callous and reckless act would be established and a verdict of murder would have been justified. The constitutional claim dependent upon a showing of a preclusion of a legitimately relevant fact cannot here be demonstrated. The footnote from Cirincione , cited by appellant, posits”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 90 Md. App. 220 - Brown v. State

2. “Neither voluntary intoxication nor voluntary drugged condition is a defense to a criminal charge, nor may evidence of such conditions be introduced to negative the element of intent of the offense, except that evidence of such intoxication or drugged condition of the defendant may be offered by the defendant whenever it is relevant to reduce murder from a higher degree to a lower degree of murder.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 310 Pa. Super. 105 - Commonwealth v. Laing

3. “§ 308. Intoxication or drugged condition. Intoxication or drugged condition are not, as such, defenses to a criminal charge; but in any prosecution for any offense, evidence of intoxication or drugged condition of the defendant may be offered by the defendant whenever it is relevant to negative an element of the offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 301 Pa. Super. 1 - Commonwealth v. Todaro