Commonwealth v. Smoyer’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions — most recently December 2004 · most notably Commonwealth v. Robinson (2004), State v. Tuttle (1989)
29 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Commonwealth v. Story · State v. Hurd · Commonwealth v. Nazarovitch · People v. Hughes · State v. Mena
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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“whenever a person previously hypnotized is offered as a witness, the offering party must so advise the court, and show that the testimony to be presented was established and existed previous to any hypnotic process; that the person conducting the hypnotic session must be trained in the process and is neutral of any connection with the issue or the parties; and, the trial judge shall instruct the jury that the testimony of a witness previously hypnotized should be carefully scrutinized and received with caution.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“The conscious mind when put to rest, isolated from immediate distractions and led to concentration upon a topic, may put order to information otherwise jumbled and confused. In a state induced by chemicals or concentration one may better remember things received by the senses and put them in their original sequence, however defective was their original reception. Placidity may indeed freshen the memory, recalling events and connections that might aid in further, discovery. However, such process does not validate the impression originally received by the senses. They always remain subject to error. Neither concentration nor chemicals can supply a defect in sight or hearing. What benefits may come from hypnotism in aiding memory or discovery are different from using the product as admissible evidence.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Hence, again, we hold that testimony adduced by hypnotism is inadmissible.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.