Cole v. Stevenson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 2 district ·

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

1. ““To this charge, and to these charges, and to this indictment, the defendant Mr. Porter has plead not guilty. This plea of not guilty by the defendant places the burden of proof on the State to prove by evidence the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt before you, the jury, can find the defendant guilty.” Tr. at 198. “I charge you that the defendant is entitled to every reasonable doubt arising in the whole case or arising in any defenses asserted by the defendant. If upon any issue of fact essential to conviction or a verdict of guilty you have a reasonable doubt as to how that issue should be resolved, it would be your duty to resolve that reasonable doubt in favor of the defendant. The defendant, ladies and gentlemen, is not required to prove his innocence but the State is required in law to prove every essential element of the offense charged against the defendant by evidence which satisfies you, the jury, of the guilt of the defendant beyond a reasonable doubt before you can convict the defendant and find him guilty. “If then upon the whole case you have a reasonable doubt as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant, he is entitled to that reasonable doubt and would be entitled to an acquital (sic) and the verdict of not guilty. Likewise, if you have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the defendant has made out his defenses, then he would be entitled to that reasonable doubt and would be entitled to an acquital (sic) and the verdict of not guilty. But ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 457 F. Supp. 253 - Porter v. Leeke

2. “North Carolina allows the presumption of “malice” and “unlawfulness” to be raised when the state proves a wound was “intentionally inflicted upon the victim which proximately caused death.” By employing the presumption of unlawfulness, the state does far more than “create an inference that procedurally shifts the burden of going forward with the proof” . . . instead, the accused must prove by a “preponderance” that he acted in self-defense. The state, therefore, does not bear the burden to first prove unlawfulness but can merely rest upon the presumption. Also, the North Carolina self-defense charge allows the presumption of one ingredient of an offense when another is shown. This is a far cry from the New York law discussed in Patterson which requires the state to prove each element of the murder charge without presuming or inferring any facts, and only when each of these' is proven does the defendant bear the burden of proving an affirmative defense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Holloway v. McElroy