State v. DeWitt’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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. “In State v. Chandler, 126 S.C. 149 , 119 S.E. 774 , we held in a murder prosecution that the defendant had a fair and impartial trial, though the jury took only nineteen minutes to arrive at a verdict. In the recent case of State v. DeWitt, 254 S.C. 527 , 176 S.E.2d 143 , we held: “There is no prescribed length of time for a jury to reach a verdict. Such must of necessity be left to the judgment of the jury. Something more must appear, therefore to warrant interference with a jury’s verdict than the mere brevity of their deliberations. 23A C.J.S. Criminal Law § 1368, at page 976.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Youmans v. South Carolina Department of Transportation · State v. Holland

2. ““[T]he jury should not be instructed that the burden or duty is upon a defendant to explain possession in such cases, lest the jury draw the conclusion that either (1) the defendant is required to personally give explanatory testimony or (2), in the absence of explanation by the defendant, the inference is to be considered conclusive of guilt.” DeWitt, supra, 254 S. C. at 530-531, 176 S. E. (2d) at 145 .”

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