State v. Collins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Despite being conceptually distinct parts of the Whistnant formulation, the third and fourth prongs are subject to the same evidentiary analysis.... [A reviewing court] will, therefore, analyze them simultaneously. The third prong of Whistnant requires that there [be] some evidence, introduced by either the state or the defendant, or by a combination of their proofs, which justifies conviction of the lesser offense.... The fourth prong requires that the proof on the element or elements which differentiate the lesser offense from the offense charged is sufficiently in dispute to permit the jury consistently to find the defendant innocent of the greater offense but guilty of the lesser.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 186 Conn. App. 1 - State v. Marsala

2. “In considering whether the defendant has satisfied the requirements set forth in State v. Whistnant , supra, 179 Conn. at 588 , 427 A.2d 414 , we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the defendant's request for a charge on the lesser included offense.... [For purposes of Whistnant 's fourth prong,] [e]vidence is sufficiently in dispute where it is of such a factual quality that would permit the finder of fact reasonably to find the defendant guilty on the lesser included offense. This requirement serves to prevent a jury from capriciously convicting on the lesser included offense when the evidence requires either conviction on the greater offense or acquittal.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 186 Conn. App. 1 - State v. Marsala

3. “On appeal, an appellate court must reverse a trial court's failure to give the requested instruction if we cannot as a matter of law exclude [the] possibility that the defendant is guilty only of the lesser offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 186 Conn. App. 1 - State v. Marsala