State v. Small’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Absent the use of specialized scientific or technical equipment to analyze the audio, the officer was able to give his lay opinion as to what Small said because expert opinion is not needed if the matter is within the ken of the general population. See Gregory P. Joseph & Stephen A. Saltzburg, EVIDENCE IN AMERICA, THE FEDERAL RULES IN THE STATES, ch. 50 at 3 (Michie 1987) (The lay witness's opinion is admissible as such if it is based on knowledge that is "common to members of the community.") .... Thus, in United States v. Begay , 42 F.3d 486 , 502-503 (9th Cir. 1994), a law-enforcement officer was permitted to give his lay opinion under Rule 701 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as to what a video showed when an enhanced version was played for the jury at a slow speed, when the officer viewed the video more than "100 times" and closely studied some "800 photographs" of incidents recorded by the video, even though he was not at the events recorded or photographed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 384 Wis. 2d 271 - State v. Tucker

2. “If the witness is not testifying as an expert, the witness's testimony in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which are all of the following: (1) Rationally based on the perception of the witness. (2) Helpful to a clear understanding of the witness's testimony or the determination of a fact in issue. (3) Not based on scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge within the scope of a witness under s. 907.02(1).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 384 Wis. 2d 271 - State v. Tucker

3. “This is in contrast to those situations where expert opinion is needed, because in those cases jurors have no independent life experiences on which to rely but must rather referee the battle of experts presented by the parties.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 384 Wis. 2d 271 - State v. Tucker