Grinnell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he term culpable negligence should be construed to mean a negligence of a higher degree than that which in civil cases is held to be gross negligence, and must be a negligence of a degree so gross as to be tantamount to a wanton disregard of, or utter indifference to, the safety of human life, and that this shall be so clearly evidenced as to place it beyond every reasonable doubt.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ramage v. State · Hudson v. State

2. “if you believe from the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant ... did unlawfully and felo-niously kill and slay Zelma Holcomb, a human being, by culpable negligence by driving his vehicle on the wrong side of a public roadway at an excessive rate of speed, after having ingested barbiturates, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, and causing a collision with the vehicle occupied by Zelma Holcomb, then you shall find the defendant, Gregory Wayne Hudson, guilty of culpable[-]negligence manslaughter.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hudson v. State · 790 So. 2d 773 - Conley v. State

3. “The rule is well established that the question of the qualification of a witness to speak as an expert lies largely in the discretion of the trial court, and its determination that a witness is qualified to speak will not be reversed unless it clearly appears that the witness was not qualified... . The jury, of course, was free to accept or disregard it.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jordan v. State · 617 So. 2d 999 - McNeal v. State