Osborne v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1982
Citation profile
2 district · 90 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 92 later decisions — most recently January 2026 · most notably Plotts v. State (1988), Walley v. State (2003)
2 district · 90 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on 23 Ill. 2d 306 - The PEOPLE v. Nettles · Conley v. State · Cary v. State · Cassell v. State · Ravellette v. State
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 92 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“We have said that possession need not be actual, physical possession, but may be constructive, when one controls a substance or has the right to control it. Constructive possession can be implied when the contraband is found in a place immediately and exclusively accessible to the defendant and subject to his control, or to the joint control of the accused and another, but neither actual nor exclusive possession of the contraband is necessary to sustain a charge of possession.. . . However, we have also held that joint occupancy of premises alone will not be sufficient to establish possession or joint possession unless there are additional factors from which the jury can infer possession.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Safley v. State“Constructive possession can be implied when the contraband is found in a place immediately and exclusively accessible to the defendant and subject to his control, or to the control of the accused and another, but neither actual nor exclusive possession of the contraband is necessary to sustain a charge of posses - sion. (cite omitted) However, we have also held that joint occupancy of premises alone will not be sufficient to establish possession or joint possession unless there are additional factors from which the jury can infer possession, (cites omitted)”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Booth v. State“The problem with joint occupancy arises because of the rule that when joint occupancy is the only evidence the State has, there must be some additional link between the accused and the contraband.... If evidence is presented that indicates joint occupancy and occupancy is the only evidence the State offers to prove possession, it must either provide the necessary link or prove the accused was in sole possession.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Kastl v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.