State v. Smith’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. “‘Firearm’ means any weapon, whether loaded or unloaded, which is designed to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive and includes any such weapon commonly referred to as a pistol, revolver, rifle, gun, machine gun or shotgun. ...”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Nile · State v. Gwinn

2. “[pjrobable cause to search exists when the officers’ personal knowledge of facts and circumstances, in combination with any reasonably trustworthy information conveyed to the police, would warrant a prudent person believing that the search would disclose criminal conduct or items that would aid in identifying a criminal or establishing the commission of a crime.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Moulton · State v. Libby

3. “The members of the jury were capable of independently examining the [firearm’s] condition and could weigh the significance of their personal observations in light of the fact that neither party had produced any evidence remotely suggesting that it was in fact inoperable.”

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