State v. Clarke’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 48 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 51 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The test is not whether this court is convinced of the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt but whether this court can conclude the trier of the facts could, acting reasonably, be convinced to the required degree of certitude by the evidence which it had a right to believe and accept as true. “The sufficiency test is often stated in terms of burden of proof, but it is not unusual to state the test in terms of quantity of the evidence. See State ex rel. Isham v. Mullally (1961), 15 Wis. (2d) 249, 112 N. W. (2d) 701 . Stating the rule conversely for the sake of clarity, the evidence when considered most favorably to the state and the conviction must be so insufficient in probative value and force that it can be said as a matter of law that no trier of the facts acting reasonably could be convinced to that degree of certitude which the law defines as ‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” Lock v. State (1966), 31 Wis. 2d 110, 114, 115, 142 N. W. 2d 183 . See also State v. Clarke (1967), 36 Wis. 2d 263, 272 , 153 N. W. 2d 61, 65 .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 40 Wis. 2d 195 - Hansen v. State · 41 Wis. 2d 245 - Massen v. State

2. ““. . . it is difficult to see how under the present facts this court can state as a matter of law that the testimony affecting the credibility of the identifications must have raised a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury as to the identification of the defendant . . . .” (P. 275)”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 74 Wis. 2d 255 - Taylor v. State · 74 Wis. 2d 94 - Penister v. State

3. ““In State v. Stevens, supra, an alibi was presented as a defense and the court held the credibility of alibi witnesses and the weight accorded to their testimony is properly a function of the jury. In State v. Grahn (1963), 21 Wis. 2d 49, 52 , 123 N. W. 2d 510 , the court noted that testimony supporting an alibi does not raise a reasonable doubt as a matter of law. “ ‘ “The defense of an alibi, if sufficiently established to raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, is a good defense. However, owing to the ease with which persons may be mistaken in dates long after the occurrence of a particular event, the ease with which an alibi may be made, and the difficulty of proving to the contrary, courts have not generally considered evidence of an alibi a conclusive defense. It is merely evidence to be weighed by the jury.” State ex rel. Dewey v. Kibbe (1925), 186 Wis. 210, 212 , 202 N. W. 333 .’ “Here though the alibi testimony was not inherently incredible, it was contradicted by two positive identifications of the defendant as the assailant and the jury was free to assign credibility to the identifying witnesses rather than to the alibi witnesses.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 40 Wis. 2d 200 - State v. Harris