201 N.C. App. 319 - State v. Clark’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 6 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In this case, we cannot conclude that the evidence leads to only one conclusion. Sergeant Haynes testified: Like I said, as I was trying to get the dog around the door into the car, I heard an engine racing. At that point, I looked and I saw a car- — saw the tires of a vehicle moving right up against me. As I went to stand up, the vehicle struck me and pushed me against the back of the patrol car and the mirror or the object on the side of the car actually hit me on my elbow and the back side and pushed me up against my vehicle. And as I came off the car, I slapped the back of the vehicle, trying to get the driver’s attention. As a result of this incident, Sergeant Haynes did not sustain any injuries requiring immediate medical attention. He did experience pain in his elbow where he was struck by the truck’s mirror or another object on the truck. There was no evidence of any damage to the patrol car. Thus, although the truck was not sitting idle, there was no evidence that it was moving at a high rate of speed. Sergeant Haynes never testified regarding how fast the truck was going. The State argues, however, that the sound of the engine racing would indicate the car was traveling at a high rate of speed when it hit Sergeant Haynes. A jury would not, however, necessarily draw that inference, since the sound could simply indicate that defendant was revving the motor. Indeed, the fact that Sergeant Haynes could slap the back of the truck as it went by would permit a jury to infe”

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

2. “In Clark, Patrol Sergeant Victor Haynes was on duty with the Shelby Police Department on 26 July 2003. At approximately 5:30 p.m., he saw a dog fall off the back of a truck, landing in the middle of a busy street. Sergeant Haynes pulled his car over with his blue lights flashing and took the dog back to his patrol car. While standing at his car with the rear door open trying to get the dog into the back of his vehicle, Sergeant Haynes heard an engine racing. Soon after, defendant struck Sergeant Haynes with her pick-up truck. The truck pushed Sergeant Haynes against the back of the patrol car, and the mirror or another object on the side of defendant's truck hit his elbow and back side. Sergeant Haynes slapped the back of the vehicle, trying to get defendant’s attention. Sergeant Haynes experienced pain in his elbow. Defendant continued to drive up the street and eventually backed into a driveway further down the road, still within Sergeant Haynes’ view. Sergeant Haynes returned the dog to its owner and then proceeded up Monroe Street to where the truck was parked. When he approached defendant, she was angry and refused to give him her driver’s license. When other officers arrived at the scene, defendant was yelling about a prior incident in which she had reported that her car was stolen, but Sergeant Haynes had determined that the car had actually been repossessed. When asked why she struck Sergeant Haynes with her truck, she responded by asking why he was not lying in the r”

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

3. “that the key element in determining whether or not a weapon is deadly per se is the manner of its use. Thus, the deadly character of the weapon depends sometimes more upon the manner of its use, and the condition of the person assaulted, than upon the intrinsic character of the weapon itself. An instrument is a deadly weapon as a matter of law only where the alleged deadly weapon and the manner of its use are of such character as to admit of but one conclusion. On the other hand, where the weapon may or may not be likely to produce fatal results, according to the manner of its use, its alleged deadly character is one of fact to be determined by the jury.”

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