Hess v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A judicial instruction that singles out a particular piece of evidence, but does not serve one of the legally authorized purposes set out above, risks impinging upon the "independence of the jury in its role as trier of the facts, a role long regarded by Texans as essential to the preservation of their liberties." Even a seemingly neutral instruction may constitute an impermissible comment on the weight of the evidence because such an instruction singles out that particular piece of evidence for special attention. In the instant case, the question is whether the trial court's seemingly neutral explanation of the law with respect to the admissibility of the refusal to take a breath test constituted such an impermissible comment.”

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

2. “Although the instruction directs the jury’s attention to [the defendant’s] refusal to submit to a breath test, the instruction does not direct the jury to draw any particular inference from this fact; nor does it tell the jury how [the defendant’s] refusal related to the ultimate issue of intoxication.... The jury was thus free to draw whatever inference it wanted. By not requiring any particular inference to be drawn, the instruction does not assume the truth of the controverted issue — [the defendant’s] intoxication — and is therefore not a comment on the weight of the evidence.”

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

3. “Id.; see also Hutch, 922 S.W.2d at 171 ; Hess, 224 S.W.3d at 516-17 . After reviewing the entire jury charge, the state of the evidence, and the arguments of counsel, we hold that the instruction in this case, albeit improper, was not harmful to Appellant. Absent the instruction in question, the charge is wholly unexceptional. It contains no other erroneous or questionable sections, and the application paragraph properly instructs the jury to find Appellant guilty if”

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