Grooms v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

39 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"This instruction was erroneous in that it tells the jury that if it has a reasonable doubt as to appellant's guilt it may nevertheless find him guilty. The instruction should have told the jury that if it had no reasonable doubt that he was guilty of some offense, but had a reasonable doubt as to the degree of the offense of which he is guilty, it should find him guilty of the lower degree." Id.”

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

2. ““We think any reasonable juror would readily perceive a difference in his ultimate responsibility when he must fix a punishment or when he must only make a recommendation to someone else whose responsibility it is to fix the punishment.” Id.”

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

3. “We do not hold that counsel for appellant had any absolute right to question prospective jurors ... because the extent of direct questioning by counsel during voir dire is a matter within the discretion of the trial court. Grooms at 134 .”

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