State v. Rivet’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Reviewing courts must ignore harmless errors, including most constitutional violations. [State v. Janda, 397 N.W.2d 59, 66 (N.D.1986).] A harmless error is “[a]ny error, defect, irregularity or variance that does not affect substantial rights” and “must be disregarded.” N.D.R.Crim.P. 52(a). “[B]efore a feder al constitutional error can be held harmless, the court must be able to declare a belief that it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” [State v. Schneider, 270 N.W.2d 787, 792 (N.D.1978)] (citing Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18, 22 , 87 S.Ct. 824 , 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)). To determine the effect of the error on a defendant’s constitutional rights we must consider the entire record and the probable effect of the actions alleged to be error in light of all the evidence. Id. The beneficiary of a constitutional error has the heavy burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did not contribute to the verdict obtained. Id.”

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