State v. Richardson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

93 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 93 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'[o]nly an extreme impropriety on the part of the prosecutor will compel this Court to hold that the trial judge abused his discretion in not recognizing and correcting ex mero motu an argument that defense counsel apparently did not believe was prejudicial when originally spoken.'”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 168 N.C. App. 241 - State v. Harrell · 187 N.C. App. 306 - State v. Kohls

2. “Once defendant accepted the services of properly retained counsel and consented to the withdrawal of appointed counsel, he was no longer indigent within the meaning of 7A-450(a). His retained counsel’s general notice of appearance pursuant to 15A-143 meant that [defendant’s two counsel] were required to represent him in the case through the “entry of final judgment.” [Defendant’s two counsel] themselves acknowledged that they were “in the case whether ... compensated or not, and we understand that,” and never moved to withdraw from the case. [Defendant’s two counsel] continued their zealous representation of defendant throughout the case despite the possibility that their hard work would go uncompensated.”

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

3. ““A capital felony was committed while the defendant was under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance.” Well, you know, they used to call that just plain mean. He’s just plain mean. They can’t even find the category to put it in, so they call it an emotional or mental disturbance.”

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