179 W. Va. 705 - State v. Neal’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The accused assigns the admission of the pretrial statement as error. In his statement, the accused said he was upset because, just prior to the shooting, a person would not sell him marihuana and the accused proceeded to fight with him. The accused had previously prevailed on a motion to suppress the statement because of the officers’ failure to take Neal before a magistrate. Later, the accused sought to cross-examine the officers with that part of the statement where Neal said he was upset prior to the shooting incident. The trial judge ruled that, based upon the rule of completeness (W.Va.R.Evid.106), if the accused intended to use that part of the statement, the State would be free to introduce the rest of the statement concerning Neal being upset due to the attempted marihuana purchase. See F. Cleckley, Handbook on Evidence for West Virginia Lawyers Sec. 9.1(B) (2d ed.1986), concerning the exercise of discretion by a trial judge in admitting complete statement for fundamental fairness. The accused elicited the testimony, therefore, he is not entitled to raise its admission on appeal. Syl. pt. 2, State v. Harshbarger, 170 W.Va. 401 , 294 S.E.2d 254 (1982).”

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

2. “The statutory indictment for murder does not require the State to aver the manner in which the offense was committed. Code, 61-2-1 [1931]. As noted in Watson [ 99 W.Va. 34 , 127 S.E. 637 (1925) ], State v. Lutz, 85 W.Va. 330 , 101 S.E. 434 (1919) and Holland v. Coiner, 293 F.Supp. 203 (N.D.W.Va.1968), when the State avers facts concerning the commission of murder, the indictment may enable the accused to receive a lesser included offense instruction based on the additional facts contained in the indictment. None of these cases suggest that the additional averment concerning the manner in which the murder was committed constitutes a separate offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 224 W. Va. 584 - State v. Biehl

3. “(a) If any person maliciously shoot, stab, cut or wound any person, or by any means cause him bodily injury with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or kill, he shall, except where it is otherwise provided, be guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by confinement in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than ten years.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 185 W. Va. 539 - State v. George