Drichas v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

90 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 90 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “do not suggest that a defendant should be charged with using a vehicle as a deadly weapon every time the offense of evading arrest or detention is committed[,]”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Clark v. State · Drichas v. State

2. “Q. Was there a lot of traffic out? A. No, there wasn’t a lot. There was some. Q. Now, during the course of this route that you took, did you at any time see the truck attempt to run over anybody? A. No. Q. Did you see anybody having to swerve to get out of the way or move rapidly to get out of the way of this truck? A. Other than me there at the store. No, I didn’t see anything, other than me, having to avoid an accident. 4 Q. Did you see the driver in any way fcoint the truck towards someone or some vehicle in an attempt to run them down or harm them in any way? A. No. I did observe the defendant driving the wrong way on the highway, though. Q. I understand, but my question was he didn’t point his vehicle at any person or any other vehicle in an attempt to run them down. A. Well, it was certainly pointed in the wrong direction at that point. I’m not certain of this, but we were meeting some traffic somewhere around that point there. Q. You never saw anybody have to swerve to get out of his way? A. No.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Drichas v. State · Drichas v. State

3. “The placement of the word “capable” is crucial to understanding this method of determining deadly-weapon status. The State is not required to show that the “use or intended use causes death or serious bodily injury” but that the “use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jeffery Lynn Pruett v. State · Prisscilla Lorraine Mechell v. State