118 Ga. App. 617 - Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 39 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The matter of granting a mistrial is largely within the discretion of the trial court, but that discretion will be controlled when it is apparent that a mistrial was essential to preservation of the right of fair trial. Ordinarily, when illegal testimony is placed in evidence, it is not an abuse of discretion to refuse to grant a mistrial if sufficient corrective instructions are given in ruling the testimony out. [Cits.] This is true even if the illegal testimony has the effect of placing the defendant’s character in issue [cits.], especially when the testimony is volunteered by the witness and not directly elicited by the solicitor, [Cits.] However, a voluntary statement made by a witness stands on a different basis with reference to a mistrial from that covered by the provisions of Code § 81-1009, which has reference to the conduct of attorneys, who are officers of the court. [Cit.] Mistrial is more likely to be the solution required in those instances where the solicitor directly elicits the improper evidence than in those instances where the witness volunteers the testimony. [Cit.] Where, as here, a prosecuting attorney knowingly injects into evidence an illegal element to the prejudice of the defendant, a mistrial is often the only complete and satisfactory remedy. [Cit.]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Perry v. State

2. “"In [Cit.], the State directly elicited testimony that the accused had been convicted twice previously for violations of the prohibition law; and in [Cit.] the State improperly elicited another type of testimony which was highly prejudicial to the accused. In [Cits.], witnesses for the State volunteered testimony implicating the accused in other offenses. In each of those cases this court held that the trial court erred in refusing to grant a motion for mistrial notwithstanding that the trial court had instructed the jury to disabuse their minds of the illegal testimony. We are of the opinion that the same situation exists here and that the court’s instructions to the jury to disregard the quoted testimony as evidence were not sufficient to erase from the jurors’ minds the prejudice against defendant aroused by forcing upon them the inference that defendant, having spent twelve years of his life in the penitentiary, was a hardened criminal.” Id. at 620-622.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Perry v. State

3. “It is axiomatic that the general character of a defendant on trial for the commission of a crime and his character in other transactions is irrelevant unless the defendant himself chooses to put his character in issue. Code §§ 38-201, 38-202; Bacon v. State, 209 Ga. 261, 262 ( 71 SE2d 615 ) [1952].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mikle v. State