United States v. Vega’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 federal appellate · 1 district · 1 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 29(a) provides that “the court on the defendant’s motion must enter a judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction.” “In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence to support a guilty verdict, we look at the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and accept as established all reasonable inferences supporting the verdict.” United States v. Augustine, 663 F.3d 367 , 373 (8th Cir.2011) (quotations and citations omitted). We “reviewf ] de novo [the] district court’s denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal”; however, “we review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence deferentially and affirm if any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (quotations, alterations, and citations omitted).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Villarreal · United States v. Moberg

2. “The general rule is that although a judgment of acquittal is relevant with respect to the issues of double jeopardy and collateral estoppel, once it is determined that these pleas in bar have been rejected, a judgment of acquittal is not usually admissible to rebut inferences that may be drawn from the evidence that was admitted. [United States v. Wells, 347 F.3d 280, 286 (8th Cir.2003) ] (quotations and citations omitted). “[T]wo primary reasons” exist as to “why a judgment of acquittal is not generally admissible to rebut inferences that may be drawn from evidence that was the basis of a previous trial.” Id. (quotation and citation omitted). The first reason is that “judgments of acquittal are hearsay.” Id. (quotation and citation omitted). The second reason is that “judgments of acquittal are not generally relevant, because they do not prove innocence; they simply show that the government did not meet its burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (quotation and citation omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. United States

3. “Whether the defendant accepted responsibility is a factual question that depends largely on credibility assessments made by the sentencing court. This Court gives great deference to the district court's denial of a request for a reduction for acceptance of responsibility and reviews the decision for clear error.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. U.S. v. Beattie