State v. Clabaugh’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an accused violates due process where the evidence has been requested by the accused and is material either to guilt or punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecutor. To fall within the rule, the defendant must make a timely request for the evidence, the evidence must be in the state’s possession, and the evidence must be material and exculpatory. If the evidence was destroyed, making it impossible to show its exculpatory nature, the inability to show that the evidence was exculpatory does not alone defeat a defendant’s claim. ... [I]mpli-cit in the requirement of materiality is a concern that the suppressed evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Luna v. Solem

2. “not every failure to produce evidence under court order will require reversal, for implicit in the requirement of materiality is a concern that the suppressed evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial. After a review of all the evidence, we do not believe that introduction of the [suppressed evidence] would have changed the ultimate verdict.”

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

3. “We have recognized the plain error rule, but only in exceptional cases, and then it must be applied cautiously. The rule does not encompass every error that occurs at trial, but only those errors which are both obvious and substantial.”

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