415 So. 2d 849 - Bentley v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[O]bviously an appellant who is not indigent but who does not wish to pay an attorney cannot be prevented from representing himself on appeal. Likewise, a person who is entitled, because of his indigent status, to a court-appointed attorney, cannot be forced to accept the services of that attorney. (This of course does not mean that an indigent defendant can demand, absent a showing of incompetency, other court-appointed counsel, or, as in Bennett, supra, to represent himself after his attorney had filed a brief.) Nevertheless, prior to an effective waiver of court-appointed appellate counsel, it must be determined that the defendant/appellant's decision to represent himself is intelligent and voluntary.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 780 So. 2d 131 - Grant v. State