Evans v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In Gentry , we abandoned the view that, in criminal matters, the circuit court acquires subject matter jurisdiction to hear a particular case by way of a valid indictment by either a county or state grand jury. Under the former approach, except for certain minor offenses, the circuit court did not have subject matter jurisdiction in a criminal case unless there was an indictment which sufficiently stated an offense, the defendant had waived presentment of the indictment to the grand jury, or the charge was a lesser included offense of the crime charged in the indictment. Under that former approach, a defective or insufficient indictment could result in a lack of subject matter jurisdiction, which is a matter that may be raised at any time, including on direct appeal, in a [post-conviction relief] action, or sua sponte by the trial or appellate courts. In Gentry , taking our cue from the United States Supreme Court and in keeping with our view of subject matter jurisdiction in civil cases, we explained that the subject matter jurisdiction of the circuit court and the sufficiency of an indictment are two distinct concepts. “[S]ubject matter jurisdiction is the power of a court to hear and determine cases of the general class to which the proceedings in question belong.” Gentry, [ 363 S.C. at 100 , 610 S.E.2d at 498 ]; see also Pierce v. State, 338 S.C. 139, 150 , 526 S.E.2d 222, 227 (2000) (stating same principle); Dove v. Gold Kist, Inc., 314 S.C. 235, 237-38 , 442 S.E.2d 598,”

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

2. “When a defendant timely moves to quash an indictment ..., the [trial] court must determine whether the defendant[']s constitutional right to have the criminal allegations against him weighed by a properly constituted grand jury has been violated.”

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

3. “subject matter jurisdiction is the power of a court to hear and determine cases of the general class to which the proceedings in question belong”

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