Barnes v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

107 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 109 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When photographs are helpful to explain testimony, they are ordinarily admissible. Further, the mere fact that a photograph is inflammatory or is cumulative is not, standing alone, sufficient reason to exclude it. Even the most gruesome photographs may be admissible if they assist the trier of fact in any of the following ways: by shedding light on some issue, by proving a necessary element of the case, by enabling a witness to testify more effectively, by corroborating testimony, or by enabling jurors to better understand the testimony. Other acceptable purposes are to show the condition of the victims’ bodies, the probable type or location of the injuries, and the position in which the bodies were discovered. Absent an abuse of discretion, this court will not reverse a trial court for admitting photographs into evidence.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mosby v. State · O'NEAL v. State

2. “Barnes argues that the trial court should have excluded the letter and prevented the prosecutor from mentioning it. However, he does not contend how he was prejudiced by the letter’s introduction. We have held that when the State fails to provide information during discovery, the burden is on the appellant to show that the omission was sufficient to undermine the confidence in the outcome of the trial. Esmeyer v. State, 825 Ark. 491 , 930 S.W.2d 802 (1996). Prejudice, though, does not exist when the defendant already has access to the information that the State did not Isdisclose. Id. Here, because Barnes wrote the letter, he knew of its existence, and cannot claim to have been prejudiced by the State’s late disclosure of it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2012 Ark. App. 130 - Smith v. State

3. “independently relevant, thus having a tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.”

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