State v. Bryant’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

83 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 87 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The defendant has objected to the court’s failure to submit to the jury the lesser included offense of assault with intent to commit rape. This objection cannot be sustained. All the evidence, including the defendant’s testimony, disclosed completed acts of intercourse. The factual dispute was whether the acts were voluntary or as a result of defendant’s use of force. Even consent if induced by fear, fright, or coercion, is equivalent to physical forcé. State v. Primes, [ 275 N.C. 61 , 165 S.E. 2d 225 ]; State v. Carter, [ 265 N.C. 626 , 144 S.E. 2d 826 ]. The court should not submit an issue in the absence of some evidence which tended to support it. The rule is stated in State v. McNeil, 277 N.C. 162 , 176 S.E. 2d 732 . ‘The court (trial) charged the jury to return a verdict: (1) guilty of rape; (2) guilty of rape with a recommendation that punishment be imprisonment for life in the State’s prison; or (3) not guilty. Failure to find the defendant guilty of (1) or (2) required a verdict of not guilty. The defendant was not prejudiced by the charge which required the jury to acquit of all included lesser offenses. There was no evidence of the lesser included offenses, and the court was correct in refusing to permit the jury to consider them.’ ””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Arnold · State v. Bynum

2. “Catrett was decided on June 6, 1970, and was based on our interpretation of the exclusionary rule in Miranda. Some other appellate courts made this same interpretation. However, on February 24, 1971, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Harris v. New York, 28 L.Ed. 2d 1 , reviewing the Miranda exclusionary rule. In Harris the Court held “that petitioner’s credibility was appropriately impeached by use of his earlier conflicting statements” which were made during in-custody interrogation, without counsel, and without waiver of rights. In our case the use of the defendant’s in-custody admissions to impeach and contradict his testimony before the jury was proper and his objections thereto are not sustained. The defendant’s admissions were not offered to make out the prosecution’s case. They were offered to tear down the defendant’s defense. State v. Lynch, supra, did not involve admissions offered for the purpose of impeaching the defendant’s testimony before the jury. The decision in Harris warranted the use of the impeaching testimony. In view of the importance we attach to the Harris decision and its current unavailability to some of our trial courts, we quote extensively from it: “Some comments in the Miranda opinion can indeed be read as indicating a bar to use of an uncounseled statement for any purpose, but discussion of that issue was not at all necessary to the Court’s holding and cannot be regarded as controlling. Miranda barred the prosecution from making it”

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

3. “There is no evidence in contradiction of the prosecutrix except that of an alibi. According to her testimony, which contains a full recital of the crime, the prisoner was guilty of rape; according to his own evidence he was guilty of no offense. There is no aspect of the case that would justify a verdict merely of a simple assault or an assault with intent, and refusal to instruct the jury in reference to the lesser offense did not constitute reversible error. State v. White 138 N.C. 704 ; State v. Kendall, 143 N.C. 659 .””

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