Russell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

44 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 44 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The appellant argues that the trial court erred in allowing the witness to answer whether the child’s statements were consistent with sexual abuse because the subject matter was not beyond the common knowledge of the jury. The argument is meritorious. The general test for admissibility of expert testimony is whether the testimony will aid the trier of fact in understanding the evidence or in determining a fact issue. Unif. R. Evid. 702; B&J Byers Trucking, Inc. v. Robinson, 281 Ark. 442 , 665 S.W.2d 258 (1984). An important consideration in determining whether the testimony will aid the trier of fact is whether the situation is beyond the trier of fact’s ability to understand and draw its own conclusions. B&J Byers Trucking, Inc. v. Robinson, supra. Here, lay jurors were fully competent to determine whether the history given by the victim was consistent with sexual abuse. Accordingly, we conclude the trial court erred in admitting the testimony. The issue then becomes whether the error was prejudicial. The State’s case against the appellant was so strong, and the error so inconsequential, that we find no prejudice. The overwhelming evidence came primarily from the victim and a pediatrician. The victim’s testimony was explicit, graphic, and unequivocal ....”

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