139 N.C. App. 209 - State v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

48 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 50 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[a] person commits the offense of habitual misdemeanor assault if that person violates any of the provisions of G.S. 14-33 and causes physical injury, or G.S. 14-34, and has two or more prior convictions for either misdemeanor or felony assault, with the earlier of the two prior convictions occurring no more than 15 years prior to the date of the current violation.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 250 N.C. App. 686 - State v. Howell · 155 N.C. App. 35 - State v. Carpenter

2. “A person commits the offense of habitual impaired driving if he drives while impaired ... and has been convicted of three or more offenses involving impaired driving ... within 10 years of the date of this offense.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 250 N.C. App. 686 - State v. Howell · 245 N.C. App. 101 - State v. Barnett

3. “the habitual felon statute does not violate the prohibition against ex post facto laws because it does not punish defendant for his previous conduct, but rather for his current conduct to a greater degree, due to his previous similar offenses. ... As the habitual misdemeanor assault statute similarly does not impose punishment for previous crimes, but imposes an enhanced punishment for behavior occurring after the enactment of the statute, because of the repetitive nature of such behavior, we hold the habitual misdemeanor assault statute does not violate the prohibition on ex post facto laws.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 160 N.C. App. 200 - State v. McCree