State v. Nesbitt’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

47 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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The first time anybody heard Mr. Nesbitt say that, [referring to his testimony that Harmer died of a drug overdose] that's involved in law enforcement or had anything to do with the case, other than he says his attorneys, was yesterday morning. .... ... To talk real briefly about his testimony, of course, he is the last person to testify. He has had access to every report, every deposition—he sat in on some—and he is going to get on the stand and he's going to be real straightforward with you and tell you what happened.... .... ... When the defendant testified, and [defense counsel] apparently thought I was trying to be a comic or it was a ridiculous cross examination, was the first time I ever talked to him in my life.... .... ... There wasn't one time—and I think this offends me more than about anything else about this case—there wasn't one time from November 30th on, until today, that Mr. Nesbitt couldn't have told the Harmers where their daughter's body was anytime. And he didn't have to do it himself, but he sure could have let them know.”

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

2. “premeditated murder and felony murder are simply alternate methods of committing first degree murder”

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