Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Counsel for both the defense and the State have dwelled at length on the proceedings leading up to the order of confinement, attempting to convince us of their illegality or legality, as supports their respective positions. We believe these labors to be lost, however, as such is not determinative of the issue herein. Although grave doubts appear with regard to the legality of the defendant’s confinement upon the contempt charge, we do not meet that issue. True, the statute applies only to escapes from ‘lawful’ confinement, but that does not entitle all who may question the legality of the proceedings leading to their confinement to resort to self-help. Although numerous cases involving justification for escape have arisen in other jurisdictions, the question has not previously been passed upon by this Court. We find a substantial number of decisions from other states where, under circumstances obviously lacking due process, breaking jail was found not to be a criminal offense. We have made no attempt to analyze all these cases or to reconcile them with the majority view to the contrary, which is the view we believe to square with reason. Not necessarily inconsistent with the rule that escape is justifiable where the imprisonment is ‘unlawful’ are a number of cases holding that where the imprisonment is under color of law, the prisoner is not entitled to resort to self-help but must apply for his release through regular legal channels, even though he might be able to show suc”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 178 Ind. App. 446 - Carpenter v. State