Johnson v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[w]e therefore must remand the case for the trial court to conduct an appropriate evidentiary inquiry. Bayer v. United States, 651 A.2d 308, 311 (D.C.1994). If the government is able to produce the notes, the court must inspect them in camera to determine whether they qualify as a Jencks “statement” (assuming, of course, that the government does not concede the point). If so, [appellant] is entitled to a new trial unless the court finds that the notes “could not have been used to discredit” the complaining witness. Id. at 312 n. 4. If the government is not able to produce the notes for inspection, the court must hold an evi-dentiary hearing to determine whether the notes ever existed in the first place and, if they did, the nature and potential importance of the notes and the circumstances surrounding their loss or destruction. The court then will be in a position to decide, in the exercise of its informed discretion, whether to grant [appellant] a new trial because the government violated its “duty of preservation.” Montgomery v. United States, 384 A.2d 655, 662 (D.C.1978). In making that decision, the court should consider, in particular, the degree of negligence or bad faith involved in the loss of the notes, whether the notes still could have been produced at the time of trial, and the extent to which [appellant] was prejudiced by his inability to use the notes to cross-examine the complaining witness. See, e.g., Lee v. United States, 699 A.2d 373, 390 (D.C.1997).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Lazo v. United States · Hill v. United States

2. “(1) A written statement made by the witness that is signed or otherwise adopted or approved by the witness; (2) A substantially verbatim recital of an oral statement made by the witness that is recorded contemporaneously with the making of the oral statement and that is contained in a stenographic, mechanical, elec trical, or other recording or a transcription thereof; or (3) A statement, however taken or recorded, or a transcription thereof, made by the witness to a grand jury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Wheeler v. United States

3. “The burden on the moving defendant is not to prove the existence of a statutory “statement.” The purpose of the collateral proceeding is to resolve that issue. Rather, the burden is simply to establish by probative evidence usually on cross-examination of the witness alleged to have given a statement that there is reason to believe that a statutory “statement” may exist. Certainly more must be shown than a speculative possibility.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lazo v. United States