State v. Arnold’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

40 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Viewing the evidence most favorably to the State, [Arnold]’s fingerprint on the coffee cup lid tab establishes he was in the borrowed BMW on the same day the victim was last seen alive. The fact that the BMW was found abandoned in Tennessee, the same state where [Arnold] was located after his stay in Savannah, raises a suspicion of guilt but is not evidence that [Arnold] killed [the victim]. Further, there is no evidence [Arnold] was at the scene of the crime, which according to the State’s theory was in Colleton County.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Pearson · State v. Bratschi

2. “if there is substantial circumstantial evidence which reasonably tends to prove the guilt of the accused or form which his guilt may be fairly and logically deduced.”

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