State v. Allen’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

158 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 158 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Deficient performance may be established by showing that counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness. Generally, to establish prejudice, a defendant must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.”

   34 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 242 N.C. App. 633 - State v. Holanek · State v. Burton

2. “[W]hen it appears to the appellate court further development of the facts would be required before application of the Strickland test, the proper course is for the [c]ourt to dismiss the defendant's assignments of error without prejudice.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Thompson · State v. Cole

3. “Victim impact evidence is generally relevant and admissible in sentencing, though its admissibility in sentencing "is limited by the requirement that the evidence not be so prejudicial it renders the proceeding fundamentally unfair." However, the effect of a crime on a victim's family often has no tendency to prove whether a particular defendant committed a particular criminal act against a particular victim; therefore victim impact evidence is usually irrelevant during the guilt-innocence phase of a trial and must be excluded. However, victim impact evidence which tends to show the context or circumstances of the crime itself, even if it also shows the effect of the crime on the victim and his family, is an exception to the general rule, and such evidence is relevant and therefore admissible at the guilt-innocence phase, providing, of course, that it is not subject to one of the admissibility exceptions of Rule 402.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Raines · State v. Devega