167 N.C. App. 793 - State v. Craig’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) that the defendant was under unlawful and present, imminent, and impending threat of death or serious bodily injury; (2) that the defendant did not negligently or recklessly place himself in a situation where he would be forced to engage in criminal conduct; (3) that the defendant had no reasonable legal alternative to violating the law; and (4) that there was a direct causal relationship between the criminal action and the avoidance of the threatened harm.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 193 N.C. App. 753 - State v. Corry · 260 N.C. App. 649 - State v. Mercer

2. “In North Carolina, requests for special jury instructions are allowable under N.C.G.S. §§ 1-181 and 1A-1, Rule 51(b) of the North Carolina General Statutes. N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 1-181 , 1A-1, Rule 51(b) (2003). It is well settled that the trial court must give the instructions requested, at least in substance, if they are proper and supported by the evidence. See Roberts v. Young, 120 N.C. App. 720, 726 , 464 S.E.2d 78, 83 (1995). “The proffered instruction must . . . contain a correct legal request and be pertinent to the evidence and the issues of the case.” State v. Scales, 28 N.C. App. 509, 513 , 221 S.E.2d 898, 901 (1976). “However, the trial court may exercise discretion to refuse instructions based on erroneous statements of the law.” Roberts, 120 N.C. App. at 726 , 464 S.E.2d at 83 (citation omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 196 N.C. App. 394 - State v. McNeil

3. “defendant and Daniels were engaged in an on-going conflict whereby in the week prior to the shooting, Daniels threatened to kill defendant, and on at least one prior occasion Daniels fired a gun at defendant. However, the evidence also tends to show that on the day of the shooting, defendant was observed walking through the apartment complex carrying a pistol. The State’s evidence also tended to show that defendant chased Daniels around a parked car with the gun in hand. Therefore, we hold that, as in Napier , there is no evidence to support the conclusion that defendant was under an imminent threat of death or injury when he made the decision to carry the gun. Accordingly, the trial court did not err in failing to instruct the jury on justification as an affirmative defense.”

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