Stewart v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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. “The law presumes every person charged with the commission of a crime to be innocent. This presumption places upon the State the burden of proving the Defendant guilty of every material element of the crime with which he is charged. Before you can return a verdict of guilty, the State must prove to your satisfaction beyond a reasonable doubt that the Defendant throughout the trial and prevails at its close unless overcome by evidence which satisfies the Jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. [sic] The Defendant is not required to prove his innocence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 527 So. 2d 660 - Smith v. State

2. “We are aware that allowing Brown to be questioned in the presence of the jury may open the door for defense counsel to attempt to impeach Brown by asking questions he knows Brown will refuse to answer and by inference get inadmissible evidence before the jury. However, we are of the opinion that the potential for a miscarriage of justice is minimal, particularly in view of the fact that the jury can be instructed not to draw any inferences from the witness' assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 702 So. 2d 125 - Butler v. State

3. “The judge in any criminal cause, shall not sum up or comment on the testimony, or charge the jury as to the weight of evidence... .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 592 So. 2d 114 - Hansen v. State