State v. Gardner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

46 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 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is error for any judge in a criminal case, during its progress ... to express or intimate his opinion as to what has or has not been proved .... Should any judge violate this Code section, the violation shall be held by the . . . Court of Appeals to be error and the decision in the case reversed, and a new trial granted in the court below with such directions as the . . . Court of Appeals may lawfully give.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Gregory v. the State · Rouse v. State

2. “Although we strongly discourage the giving of direction or the use of language that could create the appearance of alignment between the trial court and either the prosecution or defense, the trial court did not “express or intimate [its] opinion as to what has or has not been proved [so as to violate OCGA § 17-8-57],”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Allen v. State · State v. Anderson

3. “The Court of Appeals correctly stated that in order to violate OCGA § 17-8-57, the trial court’s comments must pertain to a disputed issue of fact. [Cits.] Assuming, arguendo, that the issue of venue was disputed in this case, [footnote 3] we hold that the trial court did not violate OCGA § 17-8-57.”

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