McClure v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “By its own language, the statute only requires that there be corroboration by evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense and that this evidence go beyond a showing that the crime was committed and the circumstances thereof. We have, therefore, consistently held that the corroborating evidence need not be sufficient in and of itself to sustain a conviction, but it need only, independently of the testimony of the accomplice, tend in some degree to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime. While the corroborating evidence must do more than raise a suspicion of the defendant’s guilt, it need not be direct, but may be circumstantial, so long as it is substantial, and tends to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense. Even though one circumstance of a combination of several circumstances might not be sufficient, all of the circumstances in evidence may constitute a chain sufficient to present a jury question as to their adequacy as corroboration of the accomplice. The question of sufficiency of the corroborating evidence to justify submission of the question of a defendant’s guilt must, of necessity, be governed by the facts and circumstances of the particular case, having regard for the nature of the crime, the character of the accomplice’s testimony and the general requirements with respect to corroboration. Where the circumstantial evidence tending to connect the defendant with the offense is substantial, the questi”

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