State v. Sisson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

28 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the key issue is whether a presumption set out in a jury instruction is mandatory, 'that is, whether the specific instruction, both alone and in the context of the overall charge, could have been understood by reasonable jurors to require them to find the presumed fact if the State proves certain predicate facts.' 491 U.S. at 265 , 109 S.Ct. 2419 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Williams

2. “the instructions as a whole ... informed the jury that it had to do more than simply find that [the defendant] was the possessor of scales; it had to find that he was using or intended to use the scale as paraphernalia for use in distributing controlled substances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Williams

3. “'[i]f the instructions properly and fairly state the law as applied to the facts of the case and a jury could not reasonably have been misled by them, the instructions do not constitute reversible error even if they are in some way erroneous.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Sims