Hand v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 11 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In order to find the defendant guilty of Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony, you must find that the following four elements have been established beyond a reasonable doubt: First, there was a deadly weapon, namely a knife. The definition of a deadly weapon in the Criminal Code includes any sort of knife, other than an ordinary pocketknife, carried in a closed position. Second, the defendant possessed the deadly v/eapon. Possession generally means dominion, control and authority. A person is in possession of a deadly weapon, within the meaning of this section, when it is accessible to him during the commission of a crime. Third, the defendant acted knowingly. In other words, he was aware that he possessed the deadly weapon. And, fourth, the defendant possessed the deadly weapon during the commission of the felony charged in Count 1 of the Indictment, namely Murder in the First Degree, or a lesser included felony, such as Murder in the Second Degree, Manslaughter, or Criminally Negligent Homicide.” (Emphasis added.)”

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