Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It shall be unlawful for any driver of a vehicle willfully to fail or refuse to bring his or her vehicle to a stop or otherwise to flee or attempt to elude a pursuing police vehicle or police officer when given a visual or an audible signal to bring the vehicle to a stop.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 340 Ga. App. 723 - Gibbs v. the State · PIERSON v. the STATE.

2. “[I]t is the act of fleeing from an individual police vehicle or police officer after being given a proper visual or audible signal to stop from that individual police vehicle or officer[ ] that forms the proper 'unit of prosecution' under OCGA § 40-6-395.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 340 Ga. App. 723 - Gibbs v. the State · PIERSON v. the STATE.

3. “The question of multiple punishments (as opposed to multiple prosecutions) for the same criminal conduct is addressed under the rubric of substantive double jeopardy. Whether multiple punishment is permissible requires examination of the legislative intent underlying the criminal statute. It is for the legislature to determine to what extent certain criminal conduct has demonstrated more serious criminal interest and damaged society and to what extent it should be punished. Typically, the question is whether the same conduct may be punished under different criminal statutes. In that situation, it is appropriate to apply the . . . “required evidence” test....f 1 ] However, a different, question is presented here: whether a course of conduct can result in multiple violations of the same statute. . . . [That] question requires a determination of the “unit of prosecution,” or the precise act or conduct that is being criminalized under the statute.”

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