James 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. “[T]he motion court did not specifically identify any plausible strategic reason for counsel’s failure to challenge [the biased juror]; it merely noted that counsel had been present during voir dire and opined that counsel may have observed something about [the biased juror] during that period. At the motion hearing, counsel was unable to identify any strategic reason for allowing [the biased juror] to remain on the venirepa-nel, even after reviewing his notes from jury selection, and no strategic reason for allowing [the biased juror] to remain on the jury is apparent from the record. Counsel’s inability to remember the reasons for deciding not to strike the juror at issue does not support a finding that counsel’s decision was a matter of trial strategy and, in fact, undermines such a conclusion.”

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

2. “failure to challenge for cause a venireperson who admits to a prejudice against the defendant is ineffectiveness absent an acceptable explanation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Fernandez-Molina v. State