Commonwealth v. Sullivan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 14 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a ... photograph ... of any child whom the person knows or reasonably should know to be under the age of 18 years of age and such child is ... depicted or portrayed in any pose, posture or setting involving a lewd exhibition of the unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person is female, a fully or partially developed breast of the child with knowledge of the nature or content thereof.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sullivan v. Marchilli · Commonwealth v. Rex

2. “The photograph in the instant case is of a naked adolescent girl sitting on her knees on a beach with her legs separated, but not spread, and her pubic area partially visible. The focal point of the photograph is her developing breasts and, to a lesser extent, her pubic area. Her developing left breast and nipple are prominently displayed. The tilt of her head, the shadow line it creates, the angle of her glasses and ponytail, and her right arm align with her right nipple, drawing the viewer’s attention to it. Her left hand is pointed down and over, but not touching, her pubic area, placing half of her pubic area in shadow. Her hand position draws the viewer’s attention to her pubic area. The girl is staring downward. She is not smiling, nor is she otherwise engaging with the photographer. Someone who knows the girl would be readily able to identify her from the photograph. She does not appear to be posed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sullivan v. Marchilli

3. ““only to be used ... to determine whether [the defendant] intended to download this particular photograph, and whether that is the absence of mistake or inadvertence, and may be used . . . secondly to go to his knowledge of what he was downloading. But it... should not be used at all for evidence of bad character or whether the other pictures were appropriate or not.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Rollins