305 Ga. App. 710 - Scott v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When determining whether the State's unchallenged comments or questions about a defendant's right to remain silent prejudice that defendant, we consider a number of factors. These include whether the error was an isolated incident, or instead consisted of several questions or comments, and whether the error was inadvertent, rather than a deliberate attempt by the State to use the defendant's silence against him. We also examine the 'trial context' of the error, and take a particularly dim view of the State's conduct in arguing during closing that evidence of the defendant's silence should be viewed as evidence of his guilt. Finally, we analyze whether, in light of the evidence presented, there was a possibility that the State's improper comments contributed to the guilty verdict. In other words, we examine whether the evidence of the defendant's guilt was overwhelming or whether the evidence was conflicting.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Otto Orr · Williams v. State

2. “[T]rial counsel’s testimony established that his failure to object to these improper arguments [and testimony] arose not from strategy, but from his mistaken belief that they were not objectionable. We must conclude, therefore, that counsel’s performance was deficient, leaving us to consider whether the deficiency prejudiced [Moore’s] defense.”

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

3. “When determining whether the State's unchallenged comments or questions about a defendant's right to remain silent prejudice that defendant, we consider a number of factors[,]”

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