Drumm v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

40 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]e should be particularly cautious about admitting into evidence the out-of-court statements to a physician of any child who is not competent to testify in person because a child whose understanding is not sufficient to allow him to testify might well also fail to understand that the recovery of his health is dependent upon the truth of his statements to the doctor. The reason we exclude hearsay testimony in any case is that the declarant is not subject to cross-examination and that there is no sufficient guarantee of the trustworthiness of the out-of-court statement . . . There is no way to determine the trustworthiness of the out-of-court statements of a child whose lack of understanding renders him incompetent to testify.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. B.B. a Child Under Eighteen v. Commonwealth of Kentucky · BB v. Com.

2. “"Rule 404(b) Other crimes, wrongs, or acts. Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible: (1) If offered for some other purpose, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident; or (2) If so inextricably intertwined with other evidence essential to the case that separation of the two (2) could not be accomplished without serious adverse effect on the offering party."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Daniel v. Commonwealth · Funk v. Commonwealth

3. “"The `General Rule' is `[e]vidence of the commission of crimes other than the one that is the subject of a charge is not admissible to prove that an accused is a person of criminal disposition.' Lawson, The Kentucky Evidence Law Handbook, 2d ed., Sec. 2.20(A) (1984). Before admitting such evidence the burden is on the Commonwealth to establish a reason to apply some well-defined exception." Drumm v. Commonwealth, Ky., 783 S.W.2d 380, 381 (1990).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Funk v. Commonwealth · Copley v. Commonwealth