Bell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Appellant argues that the lower court should have granted him an instruction to the effect that the testimony of accomplices should be viewed with great care and caution and that an alibi instruction should have been granted. Appellant did not request the lower court to grant him either of the mentioned instructions. The trial judge specifically asked counsel for appellant whether he had an alibi instruction and counsel replied that he did not. Appellant contends that because the court did not grant the instruction of its own volition, he was not assured a fair trial. In Newell v. State, 308 So.2d 71 (Miss. 1975), this Court held that the trial judge may give appropriate instructions in addition to those submitted by litigants in the case, if, in the exercise of his discretion, he considers the ends of justice require it. Further, Newell held that the lower court may not be put in error for failure to instruct the jury on any point of law unless specifically requested in writing to do so. ( 308 So.2d at 78 ). The rule stated in Newell has been approved many times and, in our opinion, is good law today.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 478 So. 2d 1017 - Harper v. State