Commonwealth v. Morgan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is well established that character evidence alone may be sufficient to raise a reasonable doubt and thus justify an acquittal of the charges. ■ Commonwealth v. Scott, 496 Pa. 188 , 195 n. 1, 436 A.2d 607 , 611 n. 1 (1981); Commonwealth v. Cleary, 135 Pa. 64, 82-83 , 19 A. 1017, 1018 (1890). In Commonwealth v. Weiss, this Court stated that: where there are only two direct witnesses involved, credibility of the witnesses is of paramount importance and character evidence is critical to the jury’s determination of credibility. Evidence of good character is substantive, not mere make[-]weight evidence, and may, in and of itself, create a reasonable doubt of guilt, and thus require a verdict of not guilty.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2000 Pa. Super. 5 - Commonwealth v. Hargrave

2. “[t]he scope of cross-examination is a matter within the discretion of the trial court and will not be reversed absent an abuse of that discretion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Com. v. JF