204 N.C. App. 68 - State v. Brewington’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) determine whether the [evidence] at issue is testimonial; (2) if the [evidence] is testimonial, ascertain whether the declarant was unavailable at trial and defendant was given a prior opportunity to cross-examine the declarant; (3) if the defendant was not afforded the opportunity to cross-examine the unavailable declarant, decide whether the testifying expert was offering an independent opinion or merely summarizing another non-testifying expert’s report or analysis; and (4) if the testifying expert summarized another non-testifying expert’s report or analysis, determine whether the admission of the [evidence] through another testifying expert is reversible error.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Poole · 208 N.C. App. 422 - State v. Williams

2. “[c]onfrontation is designed to weed out not only the fraudulent analyst, but the incompetent one as well. Serious deficiencies have been found in the forensic evidence used in criminal trials. Like expert witnesses generally, an analyst’s lack of proper training or deficiency in judgment may be disclosed in cross-examination. . . . [T]he purpose of requiring the analysts themselves testify is so that their honesty, competence, and the care with which they conducted the tests in question could be exposed to testing in the crucible of cross-examination. Thus, to allow a testifying expert to reiterate the conclusions of a non-testifying expert would eviscerate the protection of the Confrontation Clause.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 208 N.C. App. 422 - State v. Williams

3. “This Court reviews alleged violations of constitutional rights de novo. If a defendant shows that an error has occurred, the State bears the burden of proving the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-1443(b) (2009). Under the de novo standard of review, this Court “considers the matter anew and freely substitutes its own judgment for that of the [trial court].””

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