State v. Anson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On July 26, 2000, the State issued an arrest warrant for Anson. On July 26, the State charged Anson with three counts of sexual contact with a child under the age of sixteen in violation of Wis. Stat. § 948.02 (2) (1999-2000). Each count of the complaint is distin guished by time and place. Counts one and two relate to an incident allegedly occurring "on a glider type chair" on the "porch of the home." Count three relates to the allegation that "the defendant later came back downstairs" and "touched [the victim's] vagina while she was lying on a couch." In early August, an officer from the Fontana police department contacted the Orange County California sheriff and asked for assistance in getting a statement from Anson. On August 3, the Orange county investigator who initiated the discussion with Anson first learned about the warrant for Anson's arrest. On August 7, the officer sent a fax that contained an eight-page narrative, a copy of the criminal complaint, and a Xerox of a photo of Anson and the victim to the investigator. On August 8, the investigator and his partner went to Anson's workplace, both to get a statement from him regarding an alleged sexual assault that had occurred in Wisconsin and ultimately to arrest Anson. Anson agreed to speak with the investigators. At the beginning of the interrogation, Anson asked, "I haven't been charged with anything yet," and the investigator responded, "Right." The investigator then asked Anson, "You understand you are not under”

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

2. “I think the court's findings have to be, or I do make the following findings: that [Anson] would, have testi fied; that there was an independent distinguished basis for his testimony other than the state's confession, as it's called a confession. First of all, the statement to the police denied contact on the porch, and it did admit touching, but explained it by the concept of consent. The distinguished reason here, in my opinion, is that there was a whole host of other testimony here that the state relied on: the direct testimony of the victim, which in detail listed the offenses complained of.... But the defendant really had no other reason not to testify: such as; a criminal record that would impeach his credibility. And the fact of the matter is, when given the chance to testify, he told substantially the same story as he told the police officer, to explain then to the police officer that it was consensual contact. We must assess the defendant's reaction to the use of his confession at trial on the basis of the information then available to him. When he testifies he has a whole plethora of other evidence against him, a very small play on his prior statement that he must explain. He can, if he wishes, to sit back and not take the stand. But regardless of Mr. Steen's testimony, I know he didn't really say he wouldn't take the stand or advise him to take the stand; otherwise if he doesn't explain it, he's going to get convicted. So, I mean in this case, we have that independ”

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

3. “Part of what you are going to hear on the tape — part of what you are going to hear the defendant say is, well, when the officer asks him why would [the victim] say these things, he said she had some grounds for these allegations, and he tells his side of it, at least a partial version of it, and he totally denies anything happening on the porch.... But he does talk about the couch incident when everybody else had gone to bed. He said that he went downstairs to get a drink of water; he noticed [the victim] was awake, and he walked up to her by the couch and he said how he was stroking her hair, and the defendant said to the officer, well, I had put my hand on her thigh, and then she took my hand and she placed it on her vagina. And he tells the officer that I froze for three minutes and I didn't know what to do when this 13 year old girl had taken my hand and put it on her vagina. And in that statement the defendant admits that he lied to his wife when finally this come out, and he didn't tell anybody either for a couple of years; that he told his wife that [the victim] had taken his hand and placed it on her breast, not her vagina.”

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