United States v. Bursten’s Empirical Analysis
560 F.2d 779 · 1977
Citation profile
38 federal appellate · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions — most recently May 2016 · most notably United States v. Williams (1984), United States v. McPartlin (1979)
38 federal appellate · 5 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
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 1952
Relies on Ohio Bureau of Employment Services v. Hodory · United States v. Marion · Rewis v. United States · Gagnon v. Scarpelli · North Carolina v. Wrenn
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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“so unreliable and self-serving as to be devoid of probative value.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Among these are the distrust of the accuracy of results based upon a nexus between autonomic discharge and veracity, this skepticism being fueled by disagreement among experts in the field. Also, judges loathe the spector [sic] of trial by machine, wherein each man’s sworn testimony may be put to the electronic test. Finally, there exists the apprehension that jurors will abdicate their responsibility for determining credibility, and rely instead upon the assessment of a machine.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“* * * Despite the Government’s attempt to nicely distinguish trial from pretrial credibility of a witness’ statements, the sole purpose for pursuing admission of the disputed sentence could only have been to strengthen Lesniak’s story in the jury’s estimation. If the Government was permitted to show that Lesniak had been intimidated into truthfulness prior to trial by the ever-present possibility of a polygraph examination, then the ines capable inference is that his same story at trial is also true. Counsel for the Government stated during oral argument that the inclusion of similar paragraphs regarding potential polygraph examination in plea agreements is a routine practice. Given the awesome powers which the prosecution may wield in order to insure veracity of its witnesses’ statements, we strongly condemn this superfluous practice. Prosecutors who introduce such evidence in the future to obtain convictions should expect reversal.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.