United States v. Boyce’s Empirical Analysis
742 F.3d 792 · 2014
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 921 (Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act) · 18 U.S.C. § 922 (Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act) · 18 U.S.C. § 924
Relies on Almendarez-Torres v. United States · White v. Illinois · Alleyne v. United States · United States v. Blakey · United States v. Martin
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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The [Federal Rules of Evidence] Advisory Committee Notes provide an even less convincing justification for ... the 'excited utterance' rule. The proffered justification is 'simply that circumstances may produce a condition of excitement which temporarily stills the capacity of reflection and produces utterances free of conscious fabrication.' The two words I've italicized drain the attempted justification of any content. And even if a person is so excited by something that [they] lose[ ] the capacity for reflection (which doubtless does happen), how can there be any confidence that [their] unreflective utterance, provoked by excitement, is reliable? ... "As pointed out in the passage that the majority opinion quotes from the McCormick treatise, 'The entire basis for the [excited utterance] exception may ... be questioned. While psychologists would ** probably concede that excitement minimizes the possibility of reflective self-interest influencing the declarant's statements, they have questioned whether this might be outweighed by the distorting effect of shock and excitement upon the declarant's observation and judgement.' "The Advisory Committee Notes go on to say that while the excited utterance exception has been criticized, 'it finds support in cases without number.' I find that less than reassuring. Like the exception for present sense impressions, the exception for excited utterances rests on no firmer ground than judicial habit, in turn reflecting judicial incuriosit”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“judicial habit, in turn reflecting judicial incuriosity and reluctance to reconsider ancient dogmas”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“subject matter of the statement is such as would likely be evoked by the event.”
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.