Thompson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “As a general rule, prosecutors are granted wide latitude in conducting closing argument, and defining the bounds of such argument is within the trial court's discretion.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 348 Ga. App. 383 - Carcamo v. State · 343 Ga. App. 60 - THOMPSON v. the STATE.

2. “there is absolutely nothing wrong with expert opinion testimony that bolsters the credibility of the indicted allegations of sexual abuse, e.g., the victim's physical examination showed injury consistent with sexual abuse, or the victim's psychological evaluation was consistent with sexual abuse. Establishing the credibility of the indicted acts of sexual abuse is what the State's case is all about and is the purpose for such expert testimony in the first place; the fact that such testimony may also indirectly, though necessarily, involve the child's credibility does not render it inadmissible.”

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

3. “This wide latitude encompasses the prosecutor's ability to argue reasonable inferences raised by the evidence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 343 Ga. App. 60 - THOMPSON v. the STATE.