Darville v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We have often stated the rules in regard to circumstantial evidence that where circumstantial evidence alone is relied upon, it must exclude every other reasonable hypothesis but the guilt of the accused. Hurst v. State, 251 Ark. 40 , 470 S.W. 2d 815 (1971); Ayers v. State, 247 Ark. 174 , 444 S.W. 2d 695 (1969). The question whether circumstantial evidence excludes every other reasonable hypothesis other than the guilt of the accused is usually one for the jury. Abbott v. State, 256 Ark. 558 , 508 S.W. 2d 733 (1974); Smith v. State, 264 Ark. 874 , 575 S.W. 2d 677 (1979). The jury is permitted to draw any reasonable inference from circumstantial evidence to the same extent it can from direct evidence. It is only when circumstantial evidence leaves the jury solely to speculation and conjecture that it is insufficient as a matter of law and the test is whether there was substantial evidence to support the verdict when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the state. Upton v. State, 257 Ark. 424 , 516 S.W. 2d 904 (1974); and Abbott v. State, supra. (At 581.)”

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