State v. Scott’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
56 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 56 later decisions — most recently June 2018 · most notably Hobbs v. State (1982), State v. Blake (1987)
56 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on State v. Stephens · State v. Cutler · State v. Irick · State v. McKinney · State v. Jones
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 56 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“These cases establish the rule that testimony by a qualified expert that fingerprints found at the scene of the crime correspond with the fingerprints of the accused, when accompanied by substantial evidence of circumstances from which the jury can find that the fingerprints could only have been impressed at the time the crime was committed, is sufficient to withstand motion for nonsuit and carry the case to the jury. The soundness of the rule lies in the fact that such evidence logically tends to show that the accused was present and participated in the commission of the crime. What constitutes substantial evidence is a question of law for the court. What the evidence proves or fails to prove is a question of fact for the jury.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“Mr. Williams, in this case, has not testified. The law of North Carolina and the United States gives him this privilege. This same law also assures him that his decision not to testify is to create no presumption against him. Therefore, his silence is not to influence your decision in any way. In fact, you are not to even bring it up in your deliberations in the jury. Fingerprints corresponding to those of the defendant, Bobby Ray Williams, are without probative force unless circumstances show that they could only have been impressed at the time the crime was committed. The burden is not upon the defendant to explain the presence of his fingerprints, but upon the State to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.