Mitchell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 38 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If a witness who has been examined in a criminal case before a tribunal of competent jurisdiction, subsequently dies, or if not dead, becomes insane; or after diligent search, is not found within the jurisdiction of the court; or if that which is equivalent be shown, that he has left the state permanently, or for such an indefinite time that his return is contingent and uncertain, it is admissible to prove the substance of the testimony he gave formerly.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 22 Ala. App. 315 - Gaither v. State

2. “(T)he true test of the sufficiency of circumstantial evidence to justify a conviction is whether the circumstances as proved produce a moral conviction to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. It is not necessary for the circumstances to be `such as are absolutely incompatible, upon any reasonable hypothesis, with the innocence of the accused'. Bland v. State , 75 Ala. 574 ; Banks v. State , 72 Ala. 522 ; Matthews v. State , 55 Ala. 65 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 368 So. 2d 871 - Cumbo v. State

3. “[T]he mere fact that, after diligent search, [the witness] was not found at her usual place of residence, or in the county, shows no more than a present disappearance, consistent with the hypothesis that it was merely temporary and that she was elsewhere in the state, subject to the process and jurisdiction of the court.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 521 So. 2d 1040 - Matkins v. State