State v. Chambers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “To sustain a conviction based on information derived from an electronic or mechanical measuring device, there must be “[r]easonable proof that the . . . machine was accurate and functioning properly.” State v. Kudlacek, 229 Neb. 297, 301 , 426 N.W.2d 289, 292 (1988) (foundation relating to accuracy of radar unit and Intoxilyzer machine). See, also, State v. Snyder, 184 Neb. 465 , 168 N.W.2d 530 (1969). In Snyder and Kudlacek , we rejected the argument that for admissibility of information from a primary instrument, the accuracy of the primary instrument, such as a measuring device, must be established by an appropriate testing device which itself has been tested for accuracy, lest such evidence of testing and the testing itself “might have to proceed ad infinitum” to verify the accuracy of all instruments used. State v. Snyder, supra at 466, 168 N.W.2d at 531 . See, also, Peterson v. State, 163 Neb. 669 , 80 N.W.2d 688 (1957) (an officer’s testimony that he drove his patrol car at 60 miles per hour, indicated by the car’s speedometer, through the testing range for the radar device used to prove the speed of the defendant’s vehicle was sufficient foundation for admissibility of the radar-determined speed without proof of the speedometer’s accuracy). Thus, although we have rejected a requirement that any testing device used to establish the accuracy of a primary measurement device must itself be independently tested, we have recognized such a procedure to thwart a foundational ”

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

2. “Without some proof of reliability in the device used to test for accuracy in a primary device, a test for accuracy of the primary device is a meaningless exercise. ... In any event, we hold that to present “reasonable proof” that a stopwatch was operating correctly as an accurate device to measure time, the watch must be tested against a device whose instrumental integrity or reliability has been established either through proof that the testing device’s accuracy has been verified through an independent test for accuracy or through proof that the testing device is the type recognized and normally used to verify accuracy in stopwatches.”

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