Pearson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he motion court did not specifically identify any plausible strategic reason for counsel’s failure to challenge [the biased juror]; it merely noted that counsel had been present during voir dire and opined that counsel may have observed something about [the biased juror] during that period. At the motion hearing, counsel was unable to identify any strategic reason for allowing [the biased juror] to remain on the venirepa-nel, even after reviewing his notes from jury selection, and no strategic reason for allowing [the biased juror] to remain on the jury is apparent from the record. Counsel’s inability to remember the reasons for deciding not to strike the juror at issue does not support a finding that counsel’s decision was a matter of trial strategy and, in fact, undermines such a conclusion.”

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

2. “we don’t have to talk about this in a vacuum. There’s been an arrest, there’s been accusations made, and evidence gathered, the police have submitted this case to the prosecutor, and he’s been charged with a crime, correct? ... Do you believe that everybody that is accused of a crime by the police in our country is necessarily guilty of that crime?”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. James L. Brown v. State of Missouri

3. “context of the entire voir dire examination”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Fernandez-Molina v. State