State v. Lopez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

74 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 74 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A] criminal defendant has a constitutional right to be present at all critical stages of his or her prosecution.... Indeed, [a] defendant's right to be present ... is scarcely less important to the accused than the right of trial itself.... Although the constitutional right to be present is rooted to a large extent in the confrontation clause of the sixth amendment, courts have recognized that this right is protected by the due process clause in situations when the defendant is not actually confronting witnesses or evidence against him.... In judging whether a particular segment of a criminal proceeding constitutes a critical stage of a defendant's prosecution, courts have evaluated the extent to which a fair and just hearing would be thwarted by [the defendant's] absence or whether his presence has a relation, reasonably substantial, to the fullness of his opportunity to defend against the charge.”

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

2. “[w]hen we are left to speculate as to whether the [in camera] conversation[s] consisted of the [trial] court and counsel conducting an extensive discussion as to [the] potential conflict[s] of interest at one end of the spectrum or, at the opposite end, a brief comment to the court that there was a matter that needed to be placed on the record, or ... dialogue that fell somewhere in between ... we cannot determine the extent to which a fair and just hearing would have been thwarted by the defendant's absence or whether his presence has a reasonably substantial relation to the fullness of his opportunity to defend against the criminal charges.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 184 Conn. App. 709 - Marshall v. Commissioner of Correction

3. “A structural error creates a defect in the trial mechanism such that, while it is virtually impossible to pinpoint the exact harm, it remains abundantly clear that the trial process was flawed significantly. For this reason, [e]rrors of this magnitude are per se prejudicial and require that the underlying conviction be vacated.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 169 Conn. App. 266 - Flomo v. Commissioner of Correction