State v. Parsons’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The fact that the jury found appellant not guilty on the substantive offenses does not necessarily mean that it found that he was not in possession of the heroin. The acquittal is no more than the jurors’ assumption of a power which they had no right to exercise but to which they were disposed through lenity. Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390 , 52 S.Ct. 189 , 76 L.Ed. 356 (1932). Whether the jury’s verdict was a result of carelessness or compromise is immaterial. Juries may indulge in precisely such motives or vagaries.”

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