Commonwealth v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 73 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “because not sworn to by the declarant before an officer authorized to administer oaths); and id. at 1168-70 (Castille, J., concurring) (opining that absent assurances, “out of court witness 'declarations’ have little to distinguish them from other hearsay or irrelevant chatter” and are insufficient to prove the ultimate merit of a claim); and id. at 1176 (Saylor, J., dissenting) (offering that in circumstances”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Dennis

2. “[TJhere is a reasonable probability that, absent counsel’s failure to present the mitigation evidence he currently proffers, [appellant] would have been able to prove at least one [more] mitigating circumstance by a preponderance of the evidence and that at least one jury member would have concluded that the mitigating eircumstance(s) outweighed the aggravating circumstance(s).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Philistin

3. “An allegation is deemed waived ‘if the petitioner could have raised it but failed to do so before trial, at trial, on appeal or in a prior state postconviction proceeding,’ ”) (quoting 42 Pa.C.S. § 9544(b)); Com. v. Silo, 469 Pa. 40 , 364 A.2d 893, 894 (1976) (”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Andrews v. Wingard