Commonwealth v. Johnson’s Empirical Analysis
1987
Citation profile
59 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 63 later decisions — most recently January 2022 · most notably Commonwealth v. Pierce (1994), Commonwealth v. Wayne (1998)
59 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 California v. Arizona · Commonwealth v. Stoltzfus · Commonwealth v. Simon · Commonwealth v. Meyers · Commonwealth v. Perkins
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 63 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[W]here .the language of the district attorney is intemperate, uncalled for and improper, a new trial is not necessarily required. Commonwealth v. Crittenton, 326 Pa. 25, 31 , 191 A. 358 (1937); Commonwealth v. McHugh, 187 Pa.Super. 568, 577 , 145 A.2d 896 (1958). The language must be such that its ‘unavoidable effect would be to prejudice the jury, forming in their minds fixed bias and hostility toward the defendant, so that they could not weigh the evidence and render a true verdict.’ Commonwealth v. Simon, 432 Pa. 386, 394 , 248 A.2d 289, 292 (1968). See also, Commonwealth v. Meyers, 290 Pa. 573 , 139 A. 374 (1927). The effect of such remarks depends upon the atmosphere of the trial, Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 406 Pa. 102, 110 , 176 A.2d 421 (1962); Commonwealth v. Del Giorno, 303 Pa. 509, 519 , 154 A. 786 (1931), and the proper action to be taken is within the discretion of the trial court. Commonwealth v. Silvis, 445 Pa. 235, 237 , 284 A.2d 740 (1971); Commonwealth v. Simon, supra.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[i]n broad terms, we have drawn the first and brightest line at the point where the language and inferences of the summation no longer relate back to the evidence on the record. In effect, the prosecutor is bound by our law to argue only those inferences which derive reasonably from the evidence of the trial.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Sure, I’d like to have law-abiding citizens as witnesses. The problem is that crimes usually aren’t committed in front of law-abiding citizens. It is other criminals who see crimes committed. They are the ones who see the crimes. Robert Ahlborn and Scott Dunn, they are the criminals. They have lied. The defendant, Michael Johnson, is their friend. What does that tell you about Michael Johnson? Ask yourselves that. Who do criminals associate with?”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.