State v. Stephens’s Empirical Analysis
1956
Citation profile
367 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 369 later decisions — most recently February 2019 · most notably State v. Powell (1980), State v. Earnhardt (1982)
367 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on State v. . Minton · State v. Simmons · State v. . Harvey · State v. . Johnson · State v. Strickland
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 369 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“To hold that the court must grant a motion to dismiss unless, in the opinion of the court, the evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence would in effect constitute the presiding judge the trier of facts. Substantial evidence of guilt is required before the court can send the case to the jury. Proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is required before the jury can convict. What is substantial evidence is a question of law for the court. What that evidence proves or fails to prove is a question of fact for the jury.”
36 later decisions quote this exact passage““Evidence of manslaughter is lacking. The defendant, however, cannot - complain that ‘the jury, by an act of grace,’ has found him guilty of a lesser offense. ‘Such verdicts occur now and then, despite the efforts of the courts to discourage them. When they- do . . . since they are favorable to the accused, it is settled law that they will not be disturbed.’ State v. Bentley, 223 N.C. 563 , 27 S.E. 2d 738 ; State v. Roy, 233 N.C. 558 , 64 S.E. 2d 840 ; State v. Matthews, 231 N.C. 617 , 58 S.E. 2d 625 ; . . . State v. Robertson, 210 N.C. 266 , 186 S.E. 247 .” See also State v. Mitchner, 256 N.C. 620 , 124 S.E. 2d 831 .”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. State v. Vestal · State v. Mitchner
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.