State v. Reyes’s Empirical Analysis
2005
Citation profile
21 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 21 later decisions — most recently March 2025
21 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Holland v. United States · Sullivan v. Louisiana · Victor v. Nebraska · Cage v. Louisiana
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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[rleasonable doubt is required, not doubt which is merely possible,”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. State v. Austin · Taylor v. State““The term is often used and it probably is pretty well understood by jurors, but it’s not easy for judges to define it to jurors. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean proof beyond all possible doubt, for everything in the lives of human beings is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. “On the other hand, it is not enough for the Commonwealth to establish a probability, even a strong probability, that the defendant is more likely to be guilty than not guilty. That is not enough. “So what is proof beyond a reasonable doubt? Well, ladies and gentlemen, proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you firmly convinced of the defendant’s guilt. There are very few things in this world that we know with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases, the law does not require proof that overcomes every possible doubt. If, based on your consideration of the evidence, you are firmly convinced that the defendant is guilty of the crime charged, you must find him guilty. If, on the other hand, you think there is a real possibility that the defendant is not guilty, you must give him the benefit of the doubt and find him not guilty. This is what we mean by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“carries with it the substantial risk of causing a juror to find guilt based on a degree of proof below beyond a reasonable doubt.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.