State v. . David’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. ““There are two avenues through which expert opinion evidence may be presented to the jury: (a) Through testimony of the witness based on his personal knowledge or observation; and (b) through testimony of the witness based on a hypothetical question addressed to him, in which the pertinent facts are assumed to be true, or rather, assumed to be so found by the jury. That an expert witness may base his opinion partly on facts of his own observation and partly on factual (as opposed to opinion) evidence of other witnesses, hypothetically presented, is, of course, within the rule. It is clear that if in his testimony Dr. Taylor had reference to information concerning the Forbus finding obtained extrajudicially — that is, in any other manner than from the evidence given in court — the testimony is objectionable as based on a hearsay statement. If it had reference to the testimony of Dr. Forbus which immediately preceded his own, it is equally objectionable because it was not hypothetically presented — that is, was not predicated on an assumption that the jury should find the purported facts in the Forbus statement to be true. Dempster v. Fite, 203 N.C., 697 , 167 S.E., 33 ; Summerlin v. R.R., 133 N.C., 551 , 45 S.E., 898 ; Martin v. Hanes Co., 189 N.C., 644, 646 , 127 S.E., 688 ; Yates v. Chair Co., 211 N.C., 200 , 189 S.E., 500 . Our practice and procedure does not permit an expert witness to sit in, overhear the evidence and give the jury his opinion or conclusions thereupon, wi”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 16 N.C. App. 330 - State v. Hamilton

2. “Dr. Groce, let me ask you a question. If the jury should find as the following facts: One, that the defendant joined with two other persons to travel to another location, that he carried a large and heavy weapon in a concealed manner, that he wore clothes especially to conceal the weapon, that he provided a wig to conceal the identity of a partner, that he attempted to commit an armed robbery, that he warned a storekeeper, “Don’t do anything foolish,” that he fired a single-shot weapon then fled because the storekeeper was armed, that he threw down the weapon and left the clothes used to conceal it, that he concealed himself in a nearby mill, that he asked directions calmly how to escape, that he took off identifying clothes, that he left a get-a-way car in a remote location, that he answered questions of another as to what he had done and why, and that he concealed himself until the following day, do you have an opinion satisfactory to yourself, based upon your medical knowledge and experience, as to whether or not the defendant could or might have had the capacity to distinguish between right and wrong at the time of, and in respect to the matter under investigation?”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Carolina v. Taylor