Hernandez v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

23 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident, provided that upon timely request by the accused in a criminal case, reasonable notice is given in advance of trial of intent to introduce in the State’s case-in-chief such evidence other than that arising in the same transaction.”

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

2. “if the defendant was not surprised by the evidence.”

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

3. “[W]e must assess harm from the violation of [a notice provision similar to Rule 404(b)’s] against its intended purpose. Although the violation of the notice provision resulted in the improper admission of evidence, we cannot employ the harm analysis used for violations of the rules of evidence concerning relevancy because the purpose of those rules differs from the purpose of the [Rule 404(b) notice provision]. The rules of evidence governing relevancy limit the use of evidence that may be unfairly prejudicial or misleading; for instance, evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is inadmissible to prove the character of a person to show that the commission of the crime at issue is consistent with the defendant’s character, but is admissible for other purposes. When evidence of an extraneous offense is admitted to prove such character conformity, we examine the record to determine how the admission of this substantively inadmissible evidence affected the jury’s verdict. That test is appropriate because the erroneous admission of the evidence thwarts the rule’s purpose of shielding the jury from evidence used for improper reasons. The notice requirement found in [the Rule 404(b) ], however, does not relate to the substantive admissibility of the evidence. The lack of notice does not render the evidence inherently unreliable, but instead raises a question about the effect of procedural noncompliance. The purpose of the notice requirement is to enable the defendant to prepare to”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Tracy Blaine Francis v. State