White v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The most common manner of eliciting a witness' former conviction for a crime involving moral turpitude, as a means of impeaching his credibility, is to question him on cross-examination regarding such conviction . . . . "While there is no prescribed form for the question which is asked to elicit a conviction for impeachment purposes, there have been judicially declared guidelines for such a question. For example, the question must be structured in such a way as to exclude any reasonable supposition that the witness is being called upon to answer concerning his conviction for an offense which does not involve moral turpitude. In addition, the question must be specific to the point of naming the crime for the conviction of which the witness is being impeached. The question: `Have you ever been convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude? is insufficient and improper because an answer to such a question would involve the witness' judgment as to what offenses involve moral turpitude." [Footnotes omitted.] Gamble, McElroy's Alabama Evidence § 145.01 (8) (3d ed. 1977).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 380 So. 2d 342 - Stonoker v. State