State v. Wilson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Of course, counsel should not introduce or comment on facts outside of the evidence, but reasonable inferences may be drawn from the evidence, and figurative speech which has a foundation in the testimony, is permissible. The argument of counsel for the state included illustration, comment on the effect of the crime charged, some denunciation and some pathos and appeal, but we cannot say that there was no basis in the evidence for these features nor that there was prejudicial error in the limits placed on the argument by the court. Considerable latitude should be allowed in an argument to a jury and unreasonable limitations should not be imposed on counsel. (16 C. J. 893.) It is common and competent for an attorney in presenting a case to a jury to indulge to a reasonable extent in illustration and imagery in denunciation of wrong and crime, in wit and sarcasm in an analysis of the testimony and thus aid in pointing the way to a just and correct result. Many times there are exaggerations in the heat of the discussion, but these are usually taken by the jury at their worth and are rarely deemed sufficient to require the overthrow of a verdict.” (p. 437.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Seely v. Board of Public Utilities

2. ““If the defendant desired an elaboration of the instruction or that a particular feature of it should be emphasized he should have requested such an instruction, but it was not asked.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Bradford