State v. Donlay’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

253 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 253 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The general rule is that a criminal statute must be strictly construed in favor of the accused, which simply means that words are given their ordinary meaning. Any reasonable doubt about the meaning is decided in favor of anyone subjected to the criminal statute.” (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. JC Sports Bar, Inc.

2. ““(a) It shall be unlawful for any person, for any purpose, to: (5) Use a false or fictitious name in any application for a driver’s license, or any renewal or replacement thereof, or knowingly conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Jenkins