28 Kan. App. 2d 56 - State v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Here, it was permissible for the State to point out tire inconsistencies in Smith’s statements. Both versions of Smith’s story cannot be true and at least one of the versions must be fabricated. By telling inconsistent stories, Smith opened the door for the State to comment on the reasonable inference that his testimony was not believable. Specifically, it was permissible for the State to argue that Smith’s testimony that the drugs belonged to Harvey was not credible based on his statement to Officer Davis. “Nevertheless, it was the duty of the jury, not the State, to ultimately decide which, if any, of Smith’s statements was believable. As such, the prosecutor should have confined his arguments to what the evidence showed: Smith’s statements were inconsistent. Instead of simply pointing out the inconsistencies in Smith’s statements and noting that at least one of the stories must be fabricated, the prosecutor used prejudicial language when he made statements such as, ‘There is no doubt whatsoever that he’s a liar.’ “Although the State is permitted wide latitude in closing argument and may point out inconsistencies in a defendant’s statements, we find that the State committed prosecutorial misconduct by repeatedly referring to Smith as a liar. The State’s unprofessional comments on the evidence fie far beyond the traditional wide latitude afforded to prosecutors in closing argument. See Lockhart, 24 Kan. App. 2d at 492 . As a result, even though Smith opened the door for fai”

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

2. “The implication that a defendant committed crimes in the past is improper because it unfairly prejudices the jury against the defendant.”

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