Hooks v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The trial court specifically found that DNA testing would neither prove nor disprove the identity of the operator of the vehicle [that] struck and killed the victim. The trial court further held as a matter of law that identity was not an issue. As the State points out, Hooks never contests that he was driving the vehicle [that] struck the victim, instead repeatedly admitting, “I hit the person with my truck.” Hooks asks us to broaden the scope of the term “identity” in article 64.03 to include the identity of DNA samples, but doing so would render the word “identity” meaningless. Adopting Hooks’ definition would allow an appellant to obtain a DNA test when the identity of any substance, evidence, or person even remotely involved in the case was disputed. An appellant could raise the issue of identity when it never existed at trial, thus not only negating the plain meaning of the “was or is” language in the statute, but also contradicting the Legislature’s directive to place the burden on the appellant to show that DNA testing is warranted.”

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