State v. Leonard’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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. ““The charge of perjury upon which defendant was convicted is not necessarily based upon the assumption that he was guilty of the charge of malicious injury to personal property. His acquittal upon that charge does not necessarily establish the fact that all material evidence given by him in that case was true. 147 A.L.R. 1000 , 1001, and cases there cited. A verdict of acquittal is not a finding by the jury that the defendant’s.evidence was true. It is. merely a declaration that the jury upon all the evidence is not satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt. Therefore, we cannot hold that a verdict of acquittal is equivalent to an affirmative finding that all of defendant’s testimony at the former trial was true. Surely, the law should not permit a defendant by his own perjured testimony to secure a verdict in his favor, with immunity from a charge of perjury, while other witnesses testifying in his defense would be subject to conviction and punishment for false swearing. Such a doctrine would place a premium upon perjury and a penalty .upon probity. “Public policy recognizes the principle of res judicata in criminal cases, but at the same time it requires that perjurers be brought to trial and punished. To hold that a person could go into court of justice and by perjured testimony secure an acquittal and by that acquittal be shielded from a charge of perjury would be a dangerous doctrine. Slayton v. Commonwealth, supra [ 185 Va. 371 , 38 S.E.2d 485 ]; Jay v. S”

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

2. ““It is generally held that one’s acquittal upon a criminal prosecution is no bar to his subsequent prosecution for perjury committed at the former trial, where his testimony relates merely to collateral matters, and its falsity is not necessarily inconsistent with his innocence of the former crime. There is, however, some conflict in the cases as to whether a former acquittal is a bar to the prosecution of the accused for perjury in the former trial, where his testimony relates to the main facts at issue there, and his conviction of perjury would necessarily import a contradiction of the verdict of not guilty of the former charge; but the weight of authority supports the rule that the former acquittal is no bar to any perjury committed on the former prosecution.” 41 Am.Jur. Perjury § 53, p. 29.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2 Ariz. App. 532 - State v. Noble

3. ““Is the defendant, who has been acquitted by a jury of the charge of malicious injury to personal property, entitled to plead former jeopardy or res judicata as a defense to a charge of perjury alleged to have been committed by him at the former trial.””

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