Commonwealth v. Allshouse’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Dr. Ryen]: I’m not sure I can give you a specific quote, but I said something like did something happen to your brother or something kind of open-ended like that. Q: And can you tell the Court — what happened from there after you asked that question? [Dr. Ryen]: She immediately said to me, "Daddy hurt him”. And I asked her more about that. She proceeded to describe her father had been, quote, mad and, quote, grabbed and yanked [J.A.’s] arm. Q: Did she explain what she meant by those statements? [Dr. Ryen]: I asked her what she meant, and, you know, I have a lot of properties in my office, and she demonstrated on the baby doll what she was talking about. And later on, I asked her some questions, and she had me demonstrate it on her. She was the baby doll, and I was the adult, and she showed me what I should do. Q: And was she leading you through it? [Dr. Ryen]: Yes. Q: Could you describe her demonstration to the Court? [Dr. Ryen]: Basically, you know, both. What she had me do was grab her by the elbow and kind of lift and twist at the same time. Kind of like that. She did that on the baby doll and instructed me if I went that way, it wasn't right. And I finally got it right. Q: And she told you that it was right? [Dr. Ryen]: Yes. Q: -Did she describe at that point how the baby had reacted? [Dr. Ryen]: She said the baby began to cry and scream. Q. And what else did she describe about her physical observations at that time? [Dr. Ryen]: That the baby wouldn't stop crying; that f”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Allshouse

2. “focused on the language quoted in Crawford that testimonial statements included those made under circumstances that would lead an objective witness reasonably to believe that his or her statement would be available for use at a later trial. The Court then concluded that an objective four-year-old of average intelligence and under the existing circumstances would not consider that her statements might later be used against [Appellant]. In fact, when he talked to [A.A.] on her own front porch, Geist was wearing blue jeans and never indicated to her his suspicions, the nature of his job, or her potential role as a witness against [Appellant]. Dr. Ryen also wore casual clothing and no badge of authority; he did not apprise [A.A.] of the purpose of their visit; and offered no indication that her statements could later be used in court. He then proceeded to engage [A.A.] in conversation and play that no typical four-year-old would interpret as being designed to elicit in-culpatory information.”

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

3. “[Geist]: I had asked [A.A.] if she could remember her brother being hurt. She stated, yes, she did. I asked her if her other brother had caused the injury. She said no. I asked her if her mother caused it. She said no. I asked [her] if she caused it. She said no. I asked her if her father Ricky caused the injury. She got scared and kind of queasy and stated yes. Q: What did you physically observe to say she was afraid? [Geist]: She started shaking. Closed body language. She was looking around to see if anyone heard her statement. Q: All right. Go on. [Geist]: I asked her what she could recall, what happened to her brother. She stated that her father had done it. I asked her if she could remember how [J.A.] got the injury. She stated that — she put her hand on my arm and said [Appellant] grabbed her [sic] right above the elbow and pulled. I didn't get into much else with her because one of [Appellant’s] brothers came outside, and she stopped talking.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Allshouse