Williams v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 admission and relevancy of photographs must necessarily rest largely in the discretion of the trial judge. Admissibility of photographs does not depend upon whether the objects they portray could be described in words, but rather on whether it would be useful to enable the witness better to describe and the jury better to understand, the testimony concerned. Where they are otherwise properly admitted, it is not a valid objection to the admissibility of photographs that they tend to prejudice the jury. Competent and material evidence should not be excluded merely because it may have a tendency to cause an influence beyond the strict limits for which it is admissible. Oliver v. State, 225 Ark. 809 , 286 S.W. 2d 17 ; Smith v. State, 216 Ark. 1 , 223 S.W. 2d 1011 (cert. den. 339 U.S. 916 ); Jones v. State, 213 Ark. 863 , 213 S.W. 2d 974 . Photographs are admissible for the purpose of describing and identifying the premises which were the scene of the crime, and may also be admitted to establish the corpus delicti of the crime charged, to disclose the environment and to corroborate testimony. Stewart v. State, 233 Ark. 458 , 345 S.W. 2d 472 (cert. den. 368 U.S. 935 ).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. O'NEAL v. State