Commonwealth v. Lacoy’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a defendant is entitled to a new trial 'if we have a serious doubt whether the result of the trial might have been different had the error not been made.'”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1122 - Commonwealth v. Cooper · 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1112 - Commonwealth v. Fitzpatrick

2. “Where, as here, the defendant's ineffective assistance of counsel claim is based on a tactical or strategic decision, the test is whether the decision was 'manifestly unreasonable' when made.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1123 - Commonwealth v. Copeland

3. “serious doubt as to whether the result of the trial would have been different if the offending statements had not been made”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1123 - Commonwealth v. Copeland