State v. Jones’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

71 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 71 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Which witnesses to call at trial and what information to present to the jury are questions that lie within the proper discretion of the trial counsel. Such trial tactics should not be reviewed by an appellate court, which, unlike the counsel, has the benefit of hindsight. Counsel must, after all, have the flexibility to represent a client to the fullest extent possible.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Rainer · Scruggs v. State

2. “First * * * that counsels’ performance was deficient. This requires showing that counsel made errors so serious that counsel was not functioning as the “counsel” guaranteed the defendant by the Sixth Amendment. Second, the defendant must show that the deficient performance prejudiced the defense. This requires showing that counsels’ errors were so serious as to deprive the defendant of a fair trial, a trial whose result is reliable.”

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

3. “there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re Commitment of Johnson