White v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““(1) Where there is no evidence, or none upon a particular point, upon which a conviction could be based, the court has a right to say so and direct the jury to find the defendant, not guilty. (2) The court’s action in directing or refusing to direct the verdict shall be shown by order book entry. Error may be predicated upon such ruling or upon the giving or refusing to give a written instruction directing the verdict. (3) Where there is a failure of proof of a material element, the overruling of a motion for a directed verdict and the refusal to give a requested instruction to return a verdict of not guilty is contrary to law, and the judgment of the trial court should be reversed.””

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

2. ““It may be that the penalty provided by the kidnapping statute is too great in view of the factual situation as herein delineated, and that the legislature should give some thought to an amendment of that statute, but that is a function of the legislature, not of this court.””

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