Commonwealth v. Jaynes’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he kidnapping of the ten year old victim began shortly after 3:00 p.m. near his home in Cambridge. The evidence included testimony from various witnesses who saw the defendant and Sicari after 3:15 p.m. in Massachusetts but did not see the victim. A receipt showed a purchase of gasoline at 3:37 p.m. in Newton on the defendant’s father’s credit card, later found in possession of the defendant. There was testimony that the defendant was observed at approximately 4:46 p.m. in Newton, agitated and smelling of gasoline; the victim died from gasoline inhalation. The defendant showed up with Sicari for work in Newton sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m., again without the victim in sight. Other receipts showed a purchase at 9:04 p.m. in Watertown of a large plastic container subsequently used to dispose of the victim’s body, and the purchase at approximately 10:20 p.m. in Somerville of a fifty pound bag of concrete. Concrete was found on the victim and in the container sunk in the river in Maine. The defendant and Sicari also bought “No-Doz” and cigars at 10:38 p.m. in Somerville. The medical examiner testified that the contents of the victim’s stomach indicated a time of death before 10:30 p.m.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jaynes v. Mitchell

2. “[The trial judge’s] solution to the problem [was] narrowly tailored: she allowed the courtroom to be closed in response only to specific requests made by potential jurors to protect their privacy, and only during the discussion of private matters; she immediately reopened the courtroom for any additional questioning of each of the potential jurors once questioning on the private matters was completed. She also adequately articulated the basis for the brief closures in order to permit meaningful appellate review.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jaynes v. Mitchell

3. “not reasonable nor possible to assume that the victim was not forcibly confined or murdered in Massachusetts”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Combs