Chua v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Evidence of independent acts or similar transactions must satisfy three elements to be admitted: (1) the evidence must be introduced for a proper purpose; (2) the evidence must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant perpetrated the similar transaction; and (3) the two transactions must be sufficiently similar or connected so that the existence of the former transaction tends to prove the latter transaction. [Cits.] Bryant v. State, 282 Ga. 631, 634 (3) ( 651 SE2d 718 ) (2007). The evidence is not to be admitted, however, if it merely raises an improper inference about the character of the accused. Humphrey v. State, 281 Ga. 596, 598 (2) ( 642 SE2d 23 ) (2007). To be admissible, an independent act “does not have to mirror every detail” of the crime charged, Collum v. State, 281 Ga. 719, 723 (4) ( 642 SE2d 640 ) (2007), and may reflect only a portion of the acts that establish the crimes being tried. See, e.g., Oliver v. State, 276 Ga. 665, 667 (3) ( 581 SE2d 538 ) (2003) (Evidence of defendant’s entry by key into the apartments of women, “ostensibly for maintenance purposes,” was sufficiently similar to charges of malice murder and burglary, which crimes included the unforced entry of the victim’s apartment.). And, “similar transaction evidence is not limited to a defendant’s previous illegal conduct. [Cit.]” Phagan v. State, 268 Ga. 272, 279 (4) ( 486 SE2d 876 ) (1997). “[W]hen similar transaction evidence is used to show bent of mind, course of condu”

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

2. “[I]n order to support a conviction under OCGA § 16-13-42 (a) (5) for maintaining a residence or other structure or place used for keeping controlled substances, the evidence must show that one of the purposes for maintaining the structure was the keeping of the controlled substance; thus, the mere possession of limited quantities of a controlled substance within the residence or structure is insufficient to support a conviction under OCGA § 16-13-42 (a) (5). . . . [I]n order to support a conviction under this statute for maintaining a residence or other structure or place used for selling controlled substances, the evidence must be sufficient to support a finding of something more than a single, isolated instance of the proscribed activity. . . . [I]n determining the sufficiency of the evidence in these regards, each case must be adjudged according to its own unique facts and circumstances, and there is no inflexible rule that evidence found only on a single occasion cannot be sufficient to show a crime of a continuing nature.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 326 Ga. App. 115 - Scott v. State

3. “To be admissible, an independent act does not have to mirror every detail of the crime charged. . . . When similar transaction evidence is used to show bent of mind, course of conduct, motive or intent, a lesser degree of similarity is required than when such evidence is introduced to prove identity.”

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