State v. Estes’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

40 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) that the evidence is such as will probably change the result if a new trial is granted, (2) that it has been discovered since the trial, (3) that it could not have been discovered before the trial by the exercise of due diligence, (4) that it is material to the issue, and (5) that it is not merely cumulative or impeaching, unless it is clear that such impeachment would have resulted in a different verdict.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Mahoney · State v. Grover

2. “[t]he Criminal Code does not undertake to define “abnormal condition of [the] mind” because the phrase is one of common usage and understanding.... CT]he question is not the precise nature of the abnormality but whether the abnormality, whatever its character, raises a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant possessed the requisite culpable state of mind for the particular offense charged.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State of Maine v. Collin R. Giroux

3. “the trial court must convey to the jurors the knowledge that before they may convict a defendant of a criminal offense the evidence must be sufficient to convince them of the defendant’s guilt and that the degree of conviction which they must have is a conscientious belief that the charge is almost certainly true.”

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