State v. Merry’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 1 district · 51 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 55 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A reasonable doubt is a doubt for which one has a reason.” This is a correct statement. Later he said: “Therefore, the burden is not upon the State to prove the elements of a crime to an exact demonstrable mathematical certainty. The burden is on the State, however, to prove the elements of a crime beyond a mere possibility or a probability. The best test we can come up with is this reasonable doubt test. Now a reasonable doubt is not a whimsical doubt, fanciful or imaginary. You and I, Mr. Foreman, can take most any subject in the world and argue about it I’m sure. You take one side, I’ll give you your pick, I’ll take the other, and we can work up an argument about most any conceivable thing. My son and I used to do that, as a matter of fact. We’d take a subject, whatever it was. I’d say, ‘Which side of the argument do you want ? ’ So he’d say, ‘I’ll take the one side.’ And I’d say, ‘I’ll take the other.’ So we might work up quite an argument. Maybe my philosophy on that particular point was purely theoretical, had no practical application. But yet it was a theoretical argument. Maybe his was. But my point is, most anything is subject to some debate, some argument. But the question is whether the substance of that argument is a reasonable thing or not. If it’s a whimsical argument, a fanciful argument, imaginary argument, a purely theoretical argument, is it reasonable ? ” This too is a correct statement. Later he continued: “A reasonable doubt is not a vague, fanciful or s”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Maxwell · State v. Poulin

2. “heart void of social duty, and fatally bent on mischief,”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Crocker · Stillman E. Wilbur, Jr. v. Garrell S. Mullaney

3. “That's very ancient language, but it still is quite expressive . . . A wrongful act, in modern language, a wrongful act known to be such and intentionally done without just cause or excuse . . . What do we mean when we use the term malice aforethought? It means that there must be at least a momentary consideration before the killing. And a premeditated design to kill.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stillman E. Wilbur, Jr. v. Garrell S. Mullaney