Nelson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

67 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 67 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The decision of whether or not to call a witness is generally a matter of trial strategy that is outside the purview of Rule 37. State v. Dillard, 338 Ark. 571 , 998 S.W.2d 750 (1999); Helton v. State, 325 Ark. 140 , 924 S.W.2d 239 (1996). Trial counsel must use his or her best judgment to determine which witnesses will be beneficial to his client. Johnson v. State, 325 Ark. 44 , 924 S.W.2d 233 (1996). When assessing an attorney’s decision not to call a particular witness, it must be taken 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 testimony beneficial to the defense is not in itself proof of counsel’s ineffectiveness. Id. Nonetheless, such strategic decisions must still be supported by reasonable professional judgment pursuant to the standards set forth in Strickland. State v. Dillard, supra.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Goff