17 N.C. App. 22 - State v. St. Clair’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘To reasonably believe’ and ‘to know’ are not interchangeable terms. While the latter may be implied or inferred from circumstances establishing the former, it does not follow that reasonable belief and implied knowledge are synonymous. The State must establish that the defendant received the goods ‘knowing the same to have been feloni-ously stolen or taken,’ and this is not necessarily accomplished by establishing the existence of circumstances ‘such as to cause the defendant to reasonably believe’ the goods were stolen. Knowledge connotes a more certain and definite mental attitude than reasonable belief, and whether knowledge is implied from circumstances sufficient to establish reasonable belief is a question for the jury. ‘Where the défendánt in a criminal action is charged with a statutory crime, it is incumbent on the State to satisfy the jury beyond a reasonable doubt, by the evidence, of all the facts which constitute the crime as defined by the statute.’ S. v. Folger, 211 N.C., 695 .””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Hobbs · State v. Bowden

2. ““Now, I charge you that for you to find the deféridant guilty of feloniously receiving stolen goods, the State must prove five things beyond a reasonable doubt: 1. That a Magnavox T.V. was stolen by someone other than the defendant; 2. That the defendant received.that property; 3. That the defendant at the time he received that property knew or believed it was stolen.” (Emphasis supplied.) “I charge you, Members of the Jury, that if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that, on or about February 9, 1972, Fred William Hobbs, with a dishonest purpose received by taking into his possession a Magnavox T.V. and paying $40.00 to the State’s witness Sanders, with a promise of paying $110.00 more and the Magnayox T.V. was worth more than $200.00, which he knew or believed someone else had stolen, ...” (Emphasis supplied.)”

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