Henry v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"[T]he Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of an accused to attack a witness' credibility by means of cross-examination directed toward revealing possible biases or ulterior motives of the witness as they may relate to the case at hand." Smith v. State , 38 So. 3d 871 , 872 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010) (citing Davis v. Alaska , 415 U.S. 308 , 315-16, 94 S. Ct. 1105 , 39 L. Ed. 2d 347 (1974) ). "For purposes of discrediting a witness, a wide range of cross-examination is permitted as this is the traditional and constitutionally guaranteed method of exposing possible biases, prejudices and ulterior motives of a witness as they may relate to the issue or personalities ...." Strickland v. State , 498 So. 2d 1350 , 1352 (Fla. 1st DCA 1986) (citations omitted). "The vital importance of full and searching cross-examination is even clearer when, as here, the prosecution's case stands or falls on the jury's assessment of the credibility of the key witness[ ]." Id. (citing Wooten v. State , 464 So. 2d 640 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985) ). Under such circumstances, "[o]bviously, a defendant has a strong interest in discrediting a crucial state witness by showing bias, an interest in the outcome, or a possible ulterior motive for his in-court testimony." Livingston v. State , 678 So. 2d 895 , 897 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (citing Phillips v. State , 572 So. 2d 16 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990) ).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Rivera v. State · Antoine v. State