120 Conn. App. 203 - State v. Kerr’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When an improper evidentiary ruling is not constitutional in nature, the defendant bears the burden of demonstrating that the error was harmful.... We have concluded that a nonconstitutional error is harmless when an appellate court has a fair assurance that the error did not substantially affect the verdict.... We previously have considered a number of factors in determining whether a defendant has been harmed by the admission or exclusion of particular evidence. Whether such error is harmless in a particular case depends [on] a number of factors, such as the importance of the witness' testimony in the prosecution's case, whether the testimony was cumulative, the presence or absence of evidence corroborating or contradicting the testimony of the witness on material points, the extent of cross-examination otherwise permitted, and, of course, the overall strength of the prosecution's case.... Considering these various factors, we have declared that the proper standard for determining whether an erroneous evidentiary ruling is harmless should be whether the jury's verdict was substantially swayed by the error.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 171 Conn. App. 328 - State v. Johnson

2. “Hearsay means a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the proceeding, offered in evidence to establish the truth of the matter asserted.... Hearsay is generally inadmissible unless an exception in the Code of Evidence, the General Statutes or the rules of practice applies.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 171 Conn. App. 328 - State v. Johnson

3. “Accordingly, in order for the defendant to succeed on appeal, we must not only find that the court abused its discretion in admitting the disputed evidence but, also, that the defendant suffered harm as a result of the court's ruling.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 171 Conn. App. 328 - State v. Johnson