Commonwealth v. Porter’s Empirical Analysis
1999
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 73 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 84 later decisions — most recently May 2024 · most notably Commonwealth v. Fahy (1999), Commonwealth v. Spotz (2011)
2 federal appellate · 73 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 Brady v. State of Maryland · Batson v. Kentucky · Skipper v. South Carolina · Mills v. Maryland · Simmons v. South Carolina
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 84 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“prove, by reference to the record, that evidence was withheld or suppressed by the prosecution.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he distinction between 'hesitate before acting’ and 'restrain before acting' is de minimis and clearly such a subtle variation in phrasing would not be an abuse of the trial court's discretion.”). It has done so even though Section 7.01(3) of the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Criminal Jury Instructions recommends providing juries with a definition of reasonable doubt that includes the word”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“This hyper-technical semantical claim is rejected on a plethora of bases. First, although we have historically considered the language contained in these standard instructions to be an aid in our review, we have not placed our imprimatur upon them. See generally, Commonwealth v. Tilley, 528 Pa. 125 , 595 A.2d 575, 583 (1991). Second, even if we had adopted this specific instruction, it is an unquestionable maxim of law in this Commonwealth that a trial court has broad discretion in phrasing its instruction, and may choose its own wording so long as the law is clearly, adequately, and accurately presented to the jury for its consideration. Commonwealth v. Ohle, 503 Pa. 566 , 470 A.2d 61, 70 (1983). In this matter the distinction between “hesitate” and “restrain before acting” is de minimis and clearly such a subtle variation in phrasing would not be an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. Finally, this court has actually approved of a reasonable doubt instruction which tells the jury that it is “the kind of doubt that would restrain a reasonable man (or woman) from acting.... ” Commonwealth v. Young, 456 Pa. 102 , 317 A.2d 258, 262 (1974).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Commonwealth v. Rios
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.