405 So. 2d 51 - Behel v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
13 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently March 2015
13 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on 366 So. 2d 336 - Summers v. State · Miles v. State · Berness v. State · 367 So. 2d 542 - Lewis v. State · Seibert v. State
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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““made the following findings of fact: “ ‘[T]he Court finds that counsel for [Whited] did in fact waive the right to offer a closing argument to the jury. During the hearing on the motion for a new trial, trial counsel for [Whited] stated it was trial strategy in not offering a closing and to prevent the prosecution from further commenting on [Whited’s] conduct. “‘It is this Court’s understanding that the law requires the Court give deference to trial counsel’s decisions and strategic choices. And it is the Court’s opinion that the waiver of a closing argument did not affect the outcome of the verdict. As such, the Court does not find that counsel’s conduct so undermined the proper functioning of the adversarial process that the trial cannot be relied on as having produced a just result. And the Court does not find that [counsel’s failure to make a closing argument] warrants setting aside the judgment of the jury and granting a new trial.’ “(Record on return to second remand, C. 5-6.)””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Whited v. State“The duty of counsel, whether retained or appointed, is to prevent the trial from being, or appearing to be, a farce or mockery of justice, and appellant has a heavy duty to carry the burden of proof to show that he was denied adequate and effective assistance of counsel. Behel v. State , Ala.Cr.App., 405 So.2d 51 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“"Even if [the appellant's counsel's] failure to make a closing argument is ultimately viewed as a mistake unfavorable to his client, that alone is not sufficient to demonstrate inadequate representation. Robinson v. State , Ala. Cr. App., 361 So.2d 1172 ."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.