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← 55 MASSAPPCT 642 - Commonwealth v. Toon

Commonwealth v. Toon’s Empirical Analysis

2002

Citation profile

42
cited by 42 later decisions
6
states following
April 2019
most recently cited

3 federal appellate · 39 state decisions

Relationships

Relies on Williams v. Florida · Commonwealth v. Latimore · Commonwealth v. Delgado · Commonwealth v. Cunneen · Commonwealth v. Harrington

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

  1. “availed himself of all proper means to avoid physical combat before resorting to the use of any force, deadly or nondeadly”
    2 later decisions quote this exact passage
  2. “"Where nondeadly force is used, a defendant is entitled to a self-defense instruction if the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the defendant * without regard to credibility, supports a reasonable doubt that (1) the defendant had reasonable concern for his personal safety; (2) he used all reasonable means to avoid physical combat; and (3) 'the degree of force used was reasonable in the circumstances, with proportionality being the touchstone for assessing reasonableness.' "”
    1 later decision quote this exact passage
  3. “[v]iewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the defendant, his use of force did not involve a dangerous weapon and was not intended or likely to cause death.”
    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.