State v. Beaty’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. “[I]n cases in which a defendant introduces evidence of any kind, even through a prosecution witness, the State has the final closing argument. However, in cases in which the State is entitled to the reply argument, there is no common law or codified rule as to whether the State must open in full on the law, or the facts, or both, or neither, and there is no rule governing the content of the State's reply argument.”

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

2. “case law focuses upon allegedly inflammatory or unsupported content of the State's closing argument, not upon whether the State must open in full on the facts and not upon reply arguments which have a basis in the record but to which a defendant is not allowed to respond.”

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

3. “These phrases could be understood to place an obligation on the jury, independent of the burden of proof, to determine the circumstances surrounding the alleged crime and from those facts alone render the verdict the jury believes best serves its perception of justice.”

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