Sasser v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 78 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 91 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he degree of similarity between the circumstances of prior crimes and the present crime required for admission of evidence under Rule 404(b) is a determination that affords considerable leeway to the trial judge, and may vary with the purpose for which the evidence is admitted. See 1 Christopher B. Mueller & Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 112, n. 4 and accompanying text (2d ed. 1994) (“To be probative, prior criminal acts must require an intent similar to that required by the charged crime, although it is usually said that the prior crime need not closely resemble the charged crime.”); 1 John W. Strong, McCormick on Evidence § 190, n. 31 and accompanying text (4th ed. 1992) (“The similarities between the act charged and the extrinsic acts [admitted to show the act charged was not performed inadvertently, accidentally, involuntarily, or without guilty knowledge] need not be as extensive and striking as is required ... [to show modus operan-di]”). See generally 2 Jack B. Wein-stein, et ah, Weinstein’s Evidence ¶ 404[12] (1995); 2 John Henry Wig-more, Evidence in Trials at Common Law § 302 (Chadbourn rev.1979).”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Williams v. State · Davis v. State

2. “We conclude the 1988 crimes bore sufficient similarity to the present crime to justify proof of the former as probative of appellant’s intent to commit the predicate offenses of the latter. Brenk v. State, 311 Ark. 579 , 847 S.W.2d 1 (1993); Snell, 290 Ark. 503 , 721 S.W.2d 628 . The record in this case shows that on December 31, 1992, less than six months before the commission of the present crime, appellant was discharged from the Arkansas Department of Correction having completed his sentence for his 1988 crimes. Both the 1988 crimes and the present crime involved female victims on duty as employees of E-Z Mart stores located in neighboring communities. Both were committed shortly after midnight by appellant, without accomplices, after he had purchased items from the victim at the store and had made several trips to the store on the day of the attack. Both involved a physical struggle between appellant and the victim that started in one part of the store and moved to other parts. Both involved sexual implications. In 1988, Carter pleaded for her life, whereas the victim in the present case was killed. In 1988, appellant apparently traveled to the E-Z Mart on a bicycle, whereas he borrowed his brother’s pickup truck in the present case. Clearly, the challenged testimony had probative value which, we conclude, was not substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. See Rule 403.”

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

3. “1. Sasser “caused the death of the victim while in the possession of and while driving his brother’s pickup truck”;- 2. Sasser “stopped at the E-Z Mart in Garland City two or three times to buy chips and to use the telephone between the hours of 3:00 p.m. on July 11, 1993 and approximately 12:00 a.m. on July 12,1993”; 3. “[T]he victim was discovered nude from the waist down”; and 4. “[T]he pants and panties found in ■ the E-Z Mart’s men’s bathroom were hers.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Sasser v. Hobbs