Commonwealth v. Murphy’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A reasonable doubt is such a doubt that would cause a reasonably prudent, careful, sensible person to pause, hesitate, and restrain himself or herself before acting upon a matter of highest importance in his or her own affairs. * * * A doubt, to be reasonable, must be one which fairly strikes a conscientious mind and clouds the judgment. However, it is not such a doubt as one might dig up, ferret up, or conjure up or summon up out of oblivion or out of the norm for the purpose of escaping the consequences of an unpleasant verdict, but it is a doubt which is reasonable and an honest and real doubt fairly and with intellectual honesty arising out of the evidence that was presented or, just as importantly, out of the lack or absence of evidence that was presented with respect to some part or element of a crime. A reasonable doubt is not merely an imagined or fanciful or passing fancy that may come into the mind of a juror. It must be doubt arising from the evidence, which is substantial, well founded, and based on human reason and common sense. A reasonable doubt such as would be taken notice of by a juror in deciding a case or a question or issue in the case is of the same nature as a doubt that would cause a reasonable man or woman, in the conduct of his or her affairs, in a manner of importance to himself or herself, to stop, hesitate, and seriously consider as to whether he should do a certain thing before finally acting. Further, a reasonable doubt is something different an”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Hughes