Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

50 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 50 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “is limited to the trial judge’s determination of whether the defendant has raised grounds that are both undeterminable from the record and reasonable, meaning they could entitle the defendant to relief. This is because the trial judge’s discretion extends only to deciding whether these two requirements are satisfied. If the trial judge finds that the defendant has met the criteria, he has no discretion to withhold a hearing. In fact, under such circumstances the trial judge abuses his discretion in failing to hold a hearing.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Freeman v. State · Barnett v. State

2. “But, affidavits that are conclusory in nature and unsupported by facts do not provide the requisite notice of the basis for the relief claimed: thus, no hearing is required.” Id. 6 . After having seen the evidence, he would have rather urged Alonzo to plead not guilty to the original charge because the credibility of the State's three primary witnesses, J.F., J.F.'s mother, and a therapist,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Juan Flores-Alonzo v. State

3. “counsel's errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Thomas v. State