Woods v. Munns’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 12 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““. . . a negro defendant in a criminal case is not constitutionally entitled to be tried by a jury upon which there is a member, or members, of his race, and he is entitled to relief only upon proof submitted by him which discloses a purposeful discrimination’ to exclude members of a class from the jury panel.” (p. 950) Woods v. Munns, 347 F. 2d 948 (1965).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Clift · Williams v. Baker

2. ““There is no merit in the contention that there was such prejudice against Woods in Bourbon County which would deny him of a fair and impartial trial in that county as guaranteed by the Constitution. The burden of proving such a claim is upon the person making it. As said in Latham v. Crouse, 10 Cir., 330 F. 2d 865, 868 , cert. denied 379 U. S. 866 , 85 S. Ct. 134 , 13 L. Ed. 2d 69 , ‘Prejudice must be established “not as a matter of speculation but as a demonstrable reality,” . . .’ There was evidence of considerable community feeling when the outrageous crime with which Woods and his companions were charged became known, and there were some demonstrations at the time, with isolated incidents of threats over the telephone otherwise. The reports in the local newspaper were temperate and objective, and the evidence is overwhelming that at the time of trial there existed no unusual prejudice or hostility against Woods and his companions in the crime. This is illustrated by the fact that at the trial, where Woods was represented by able counsel of his own selection, not a single juror was challenged for cause. . . .” (p. 951.)”

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