Commonwealth v. Chambers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““You recall that in his opening [defense counsel] indicated that he would produce a witness to testify about certain prior conduct of the victim .... That testimony would have been admissible if there was a question in the case of who was the first aggressor. It is a trial lawyer’s job to consider all possibilities and therefore, if the question of who was the first aggressor was a live issue I would have allowed [defense counsel] to produce that witness. “However, based upon the evidence actually submitted I have ruled that there is no question that the victim was the first aggressor. There is no evidence that the defendant was the first aggressor, and [you] must accept as fact that the decedent was the first aggressor. “Therefore, I have ruled as well that the calling of such a witness is unnecessary.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Chambers