Commonwealth v. Cowans’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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In contrast, in the cases in which the court concluded that an erroneous instruction on the element of malice did not create a substantial risk (or likelihood) of a miscarriage of justice because identity was the only live issue at trial, the nature of the killings or assaults compelled an inference of malice. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Lee , 383 Mass. [507,] 508, 512-513 [ 419 N.E.2d 1378 ] [ (1981) ] (shooting); Commonwealth v. Puleio , 394 Mass. at 102, 109 [ 474 N.E.2d 1078 ] (same); Commonwealth v. Gabbidon , 398 Mass. [at] 4-5 [ 494 N.E.2d 1317 ], ... (same); Commonwealth v. Shea , 398 Mass. at 269-270 [ 496 N.E.2d 631 ] (stabbing); Commonwealth v. Gagnon , 430 Mass. [348,] 350 [ 718 N.E.2d 1254 (1999) ] (shooting); Commonwealth v. Medina , 430 Mass. 800 , 801, 808 [ 723 N.E.2d 986 ] (2000) (beating with baseball bat).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 406 - Commonwealth v. Mitchell

2. “even though counsel's failure to object was a tactical choice based on the defense strategy of focusing on identity,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 406 - Commonwealth v. Mitchell

3. “we cannot say that the verdict would not have been different if the jury had been properly instructed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 406 - Commonwealth v. Mitchell