Noel v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 134 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 140 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he petitioner must show first that counsel’s performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the “counsel” guaranteed the petitioner by the Sixth Amendment. A court must indulge in a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within a wide range of reasonable professional assistance. Second, the petitioner must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense, which requires showing that counsel’s errors were so serious as to deprive the petitioner of a fair trial. Unless a petitioner makes both showings, it cannot be said that the conviction resulted from a breakdown in the adversarial process that renders the result unreliable. The petitioner must show there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s errors, the factfinder would have had a reasonable doubt respecting guilt, i.e., the decision reached would have been different absent the errors. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial.”

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Fudge · Ward v. State

2. “Whether or not counsel had known about such testimony, the failure to present it does not render counsel’s performance ineffective. The decision whether to call particular witnesses is a matter of trial strategy.... Trial counsel must use his or her best judgment to determine which witnesses will be beneficial to the client. When assessing counsel’s decision not to call a particular witness, we must take into account that the decision is largely a matter of professional judgment that experienced advocates could endlessly debate, and the fact that there was a witness or witnesses who could have offered beneficial testimony is not, in itself, proof of counsel’s ineffectiveness. Noel has not shown that counsel was deficient for not calling these particular witnesses or that his defense was prejudiced by the absence of their testimony.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 194 F. Supp. 2d 893 - Noel v. Norris

3. “Ladies and gentlemen, you have the Defendant, who took the stand in his own behalf, against the advice of his own attorney, and told you in his own way that he was not involved on June 4th, 1995. He told you his own story. He told you without any kind of deal from the State, no lighter sentence. He got it up [sic], faced the music, and underwent a very grueling cross examination by the most experienced prosecutor on the prosecuting attorney’s staff.... [Y]ou have somebody who gets on the stand, is willing to face the music, look you in the eye and tell you he didn’t do that. 51”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 194 F. Supp. 2d 893 - Noel v. Norris