State v. McKnight’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “First, the declarant in this case, Willie, was available to testify.... Moreover, Willie did not exercise any fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Second, no corroborating evidence existed which clearly indicated the trustworthiness of Willie’s statement against penal interest. On the contrary, the evidence presented during the in camera hearing severely undermined that statement’s trustworthiness. Belser admitted that he felt Willie had wrongly put the blame on him for crimes actually committed by Willie. This statement suggested that Belser had a possible motive for attributing Chandler’s murder to Willie. Belser also stated that when Willie confessed to the murder, he felt Willie was only joking. Indeed, Willie himself admitted telling at least three different versions of his story at one time or another.”

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