Commonwealth v. Cousin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

41 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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he defining feature of all of these cases is that the acts or omissions of counsel were of the type that are virtually certain to undermine confidence that the defendant received a fair trial or that the outcome of the proceedings is reliable, primarily because they remove any pretension that the accused had counsel’s reasonable assistance during the critical time frame. In this regard, it is worth noting that the portion of the Cronic decision explaining the theory underlying the concept of presumptive prejudice begins by observing that effective assistance is constitutionally guaranteed not for its own sake, but because of its effect upon the accused’s ability to receive a fair trial.”

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

2. “also indicated that, even where counsel is present, surrounding circumstances may make it so unlikely that any lawyer could provide effective assistance that ineffectiveness is appropriately presumed. The Court pointed to Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 , 53 S.Ct. 55 [ 77 L.Ed. 158 ] (1932), as an example of such a scenario, as the trial judge in that matter had, on the eve of a capital trial, appointed as defense counsel an out-of-state attorney who was unfamiliar with local customs and procedures and had had no opportunity to prepare.”

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

3. “it does not follow that the Court's holding in that case was meant to apply only in death penalty cases, particularly as the specific justification for the attorney's chosen strategy was not central to the [ Nixon ] Court's conclusion that counsel's course of action should be tested by reference to the actual prejudice standard of Strickland”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 205 N.C. App. 1 - State v. Maready