State v. A. M.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

48 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 48 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]n the absence of evidence that the jury disregarded any of the court's instructions, we presume that the jury followed the instructions.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 174 Conn. App. 401 - State v. Purcell · 177 Conn. App. 651 - State v. Lopez

2. “[T]he defendant has the burden to show both that the prosecutor's conduct was improper and that it caused prejudice to his defense.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 185 Conn. App. 93 - State v. Papantoniou · State v. Sinclair

3. “to violate the fifth amendment, the prosecutor's comments need not imply that the jury should draw an adverse inference from the defendant's silence. It is enough that the comment by an adverse party calls the jury's attention to the defendant's silence because any such comment heighten[s] the jury's awareness of the defendant's silence, namely, his failure to answer to the state's charges ... [and] is improper.... When the defendant chooses not to testify, he takes the risk that the jury will view his silence with skepticism-a prosecutor's explicit reminders to the jury of the defendant's decision serves only to heighten this risk, burdening the defendant's constitutional right to remain silent.... Although the extent to which the prosecutor's comments implied that the jury should hold the defendant's silence against him may relate to the harmfulness of the violation, it does not impact our conclusion that a violation occurred in the first place.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 173 Conn. App. 518 - State v. Joseph R. B.