Williams v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

52 federal appellate · 1 district · 22 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 78 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]hese statutory provisions [Jencks Act] require that when a defendant seeks the production of a statement, as defined in the Act, “the district court has an affirmative duty to determine whether any such statement exists and is in the possession of the Government and, if so, to order the production of the statement.” In Hilliard v. United States, 115 U.S.App.D.C. 86 , 317 F.2d 150, 151 (1963) we further pointed out, “A trial judge is to conduct such inquiry as may be necessary to determine whether or not the conditions of the statute have been satisfied. His inquiry may involve an interrogation of witnesses, or he may make an in camera examination of the statement,” or the circumstances may call for both such in camera examination and interrogation of witnesses. This is clear from the decisions of the Supreme Court in Campbell v. United States, 373 U.S. 487 , 83 S.Ct. 1356 , 10 L.Ed.2d 501 (1963), decided subsequent to the trial of this case, and in Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 354-355 , 79 S.Ct. 1217, 1226 , 3 L.Ed.2d 1287 (1959). In the latter case the Court said: “It is also the function of the trial judge to decide, in light of the circumstances of each case, what, if any, evidence extrinsic to the statement itself may or must be offered to prove the nature of the statement. In most cases the answer will be plain from the statement itself. In others further information might be deemed relevant to assist the court’s determination.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Matthews v. United States · Lazo v. United States

2. “(a) In any criminal prosecution brought by the United States, no statement or report in the possession of the United States which was made by a Government witness or prospective Government witness (other than the defendant) shall be the subject of subpena, discovery, or inspection until said witness has testified on direct examination in the trial of the case. (b) After a witness called by the United States has testified on direct examination, the court shall, on motion of the defendant, order the United States to produce any statement (as hereinafter defined) of the witness in the possession of the United States which relates to the subject matter as to which the witness has testified. If the entire contents of any such statement relate to the subject matter of the testimony of the witness, the court shall order it to be delivered directly to the defendant for his examination and use. (c) If the United States claims that any statement ordered to be produced under this section contains matter which does not relate to the subject matter of the testimony of the witness, the court shall order the United States to deliver such statement for the inspection of the court in camera. Upon such delivery the court shall excise the portions of such statement which do not relate to the subject matter of the testimony of the witness. With such material excised, the court shall then direct delivery of such statement to the defendant for his use. If, pursuant to such procedure, any portion o”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Jackson

3. ““Roy T. Butler res 4013 Clay Pl N.E. Ph 5813471 “Bus Owner of ‘Starlight Grill, 436 L Street N.W.) Ph Ex 38834 “The following is a summary of the witness conversation not read to or by the witness it is not intended to be a substantially verbatim account — ws. [Stitely’s initials.] “He was working the bar of his Grill at about this time, 10:55 PM. Feb. 9, 1963, and Dft Isaac Williams is a member of a gang that buys whiskey outside and drinks same in the streets and alleys and then comes into the grill and starts trouble and on this occasion he came into the grill starting around 7 PM. and he was in and out and he would not obey the rules and regulations of the grill and he hit an old colored lady several times — she came there to buy and drink wine — and Mr. Butler told him to get out of the place that he did not want him in there and he then said ‘you bad SB you put me out — and he came up to the bar and tore his shirt open and said he was a bad SB. Then at one time he threw a glass of beer on the floor and the bottle too. “Then customer Charles R. Hicklin came into the place and he sit on the bar stool near the cash register — and Dft Williams just looked at Hicklin — there were no words passed between — and suddenly Dft Williams picked up a beer bottle with some beer in it and struck cpl Hicklin on his head with a severe blow and it broke the bottle and then he grabbed the bar stool and started to hit cpl Hicklin with that— and that is went [when] Mr. Butler grabbed his gu”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. United States