State v. Rackley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[the d]efendant is trying to convert a juror's admission of a layperson's natural response into prima facie evidence of impermissible bias. Evidentiary rules restricting the use of propensity evidence reflect a judgment that the probative value of such evidence is outweighed by unfair prejudice, confusion, and waste of time. Although these rules and the policies they represent may be known to and accepted by lawyers, they are not necessarily familiar to non-lawyers, who routinely rely on information about a person's past behavior in making social and business judgments. The fact that a juror is unaware at the outset of a criminal trial of the complicated scheme regulating the use of collateral offenses/character evidence is not at all surprising and should not, of itself, give rise to a presumption that a juror is incapable of following the trial court's instructions on the proper uses of evidence of collateral offenses. Indeed, the very purpose of instructions is to educate jurors about the applicable law.”

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

2. “biased or otherwise incapable of deciding [the] case on the facts established at trial and the trial court's instructions on the law.”

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