Hughes v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 104 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 105 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he courtroom demeanor of a defendant who has not testified is irrelevant. His demeanor has not been entered into evidence and, therefore, comment is beyond the scope of legitimate summary.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Sena · 129 Md. App. 150 - Bryant v. State

2. “the closeness of the case, the centrality of the issue affected by the [alleged] error, and the steps taken to mitigate the effects of the error.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Robertson v. State · Ferguson v. State

3. “[T]his language was prejudicial because it infers that the State will not arrest someone until it is certain of his guilt and, accordingly, that destroys his presumption of innocence. The statements were prejudicial and inexcusable. They are patently removed from a permissible comment describing thorough, well-performed police work; instead, the statements imply that the police will not arrest someone until they know that he is guilty-and that is a glaring misrepresentation. To condone such prosecutorial commentary is to condone the presumption of a defendant’s guilt by the mere fact of his arrest. And that is error. 4”

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