State v. Lobato’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

42 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A confession is involuntary only if official coercion has occurred. Official coercion occurs when a defendant’s will has been overborne and his capacity for self-determination [has been] critically impaired. If, however, the confession is the product of an essentially free and unconstrained choice by its maker, it may be used against the defendant without offending due process. On appeal, we review the totality of the circumstances to determine as a threshold matter of law whether the [s]tate has proved by a preponderance of the evidence that [the defendant's confession was voluntary.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Quiñones · State v. Olivas