State v. Evans’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 federal appellate · 45 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 61 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But were it the fact that the search had been made without the consent of the appellant, we are not willing to hold that the search of his room was unlawful, or the evidence obtained by the search inadmissible. A heinous crime had been committed. The appellant was under arrest as the perpetrator of the crime. There was then in the possession of the officers making the arrest persuasive evidence tending to show that the appellant was guilty of the crime. In so far as our examination of the cases has extended, all of the cases hold, even those which adhere most strictly to the rule that evidence obtained by an unlawful search is inadmissible as evidence, that, where the accused is arrested in his home, or place of residence, a search of the home or place of residence may be lawfully made for evidence of his guilt. In this instance, the defendant was on his way to his place of residence when arrested, and the fact that he was canght before he reached the place ought not to require the application of a different rule.” State v. Evans, 145 Wash. 4 , 258 Pac. 845 .”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Innocenti · State v. Thomas

2. ““The proof of a prior conviction is not, under the statute, evidence of the guilt of the accused of the offense for which he is on trial. Under no rule could it be received for that purpose. It is evidence affecting his credibility as a witness only, and can be shown against a defendant only when he offers himself as a witness. The question, therefore, whether the accused is guilty of the crime for which he was formerly convicted is not material, and presents a collateral issue which the court will not inquire into. As is said by Mr. Wharton, in his work on criminal evidence (10 ed., 3596a): “ ‘A conviction of crime, when offered to disqualify a witness, cannot be impeached by him by proof of his innocence, since it is the law that it is the conviction that disqualifies. The same rule obtains as to convictions when admitted under statutes which permit convictions of infamous crimes to be introduced in order to discredit a witness.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 17 Wash. 2d 775 - Haley v. Brady

3. ““There is, in our opinion, evidence in the record from which the triers of the facts could well find that the purpose of the killing was to enable the person committing the act to perpetrate a robbery. Indeed, we think the evidence very conclusively shows that this was the sole purpose of the killing. ... A person can form a premeditated design to effect the death of another for the purpose of better enabling him to rob the person or premises of that other. . . . The evidence indicates that the killing was the first of the immediate acts constituting the crime, and that the robbing was secondary. In such a case the state may properly charge that the killing has been done with a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed and may show a robbery immediately following the killing by the person doing the killing, as part of its proofs of the charge. Such acts are part of the res gestae.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Knight v. State of Arizona