State v. Flohr’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In Dobbert v. Florida, 432 U.S. 282 , 97 S.Ct. 2290 , 53 L.Ed.2d 344 (1977), the Supreme Court declared that “even though it may work to the disadvantage of a defendant, a procedural change is not ex post facto.” The ban against laws ex post facto “was intended to secure substantial personal rights against arbitrary and oppressive legislation ... and not to limit the legislative control of remedies and modes of procedure which do not affect matters of substance.” [Emphasis added.] Dobbert, supra, 97 S.Ct. at 2298 , quoting Beazell v. Ohio, 269 U.S. 167, 171 , 46 S.Ct. 68, 69 , 70 L.Ed. 216 (1925). Any rule of procedure can have substantive consequences. Thus determining whether a procedural change violates the ex post facto clause is necessarily an ad hoc process of line drawing. Beazell, supra, 46 S.Ct. at 69 . Certainly, Rule 12.1 is procedural. It is found in a compilation entitled “North Dakota Rules of Criminal Procedure.” Its purpose is to provide an orderly means by which evidence of alibi is adduced at trial. Further, we do not believe its modification represents an arbitrary and oppressive encroachment upon a defendant’s substantial personal rights. The exclusionary sanction is not new — it was not created by the amended rule. The change in the rule’s provision for penalty benefits defendant by ending the mandatory exclusion of alibi testimony. That the defendant must now initiate the discovery process is no basis for an ex post facto argument. Such a change contrast”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In the Interest of T.F. v. Director, Traill County Social Services

2. “Excluding evidence can be an appropriate means for dealing with a recalcitrant defendant. An absolute bar to defendant’s evidence is of course unacceptable, but selective use of the sanction does not necessarily offend the standard fairness which the Sixth Amendment requires above all. Rule 12.1 certainly does not represent an unconditional restriction on a defendant’s ability to make out his case. The defendant is forbidden nothing, but is required only to proceed in a certain manner. The rule upholds in all cases an opportunity of the defendant himself to give alibi testimony.”

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

3. “Quite simply, a defendant with an absolute right to submit evidence withheld from discovery has little to lose by being uncooperative. Alternative sanctions [to exclusion] appear less effective and often entail delay and expense, curtailment of discovery, and even potential constitutional problems.”

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