State v. Romano’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 43 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 45 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The indictment charges all five defendants with conspiracy to commit the murder of John Carpenter and conspiracy to commit the crime of assault * * * with intent to murder Lorenzo Evans. “The evidence has established that on that day, and the inferences that this evidence reasonably warrants, is that five men in two vehicles, with a minimum of four guns, were at the scene of Dexter and Division Street, that three men with guns followed the car onto Dexter Street, that two men, one of whom has been testified to as having a gun, a revolver, in his hand, that is, the defendant Ferrell, backed up his automobile back to the intersection of Division and Harrison, and laid in wait for Lorenzo Evans. “Those facts, if believed by a jury, establish a chain of inferences [from] which a jury could find there was an agreement between those five persons to commit substantive offenses. “Under our law, the gravamen of a criminal conspiracy is a common agreement between one or more persons to do an unlawful act. The Supreme Court has recognized that it is usually very difficult to prove in complete detail the explicit terms of an agreement. The existence of an agreement to enter into a criminal enterprise or to commit a criminal act can be established by inference, that is, the goals of the conspirators can be inferentially established by proof of the relations, conduct, circumstances and actions of the parties. Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, there are two cars on Division ”

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

2. ““[A] judge has as great an obligation not to disqualify himself when there is no occasion to do so as he has to do so when the occasion does arise. * * * Before a judge is required to recuse in order to avoid the appearance of impropriety, facts must be elicited indicating that it is reasonable for members of the public or a litigant or counsel to question the trial justice’s impartiality. However, recusal is not in order by a mere accusation that is totally unsupported by substantial fact. * * * Here, at most, the record indicates that the trial justice and the prosecutor were acquaintances. Mere acquaintanceship between members of the bench and bar, particularly in a state the size of Rhode Island, is not a ground for recusal. If it were, the state’s judicial system might well grind to a halt.””

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

3. ““To dismiss an indictment because of such misconduct means that even though a jury unanimously found a defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, we would nevertheless void his conviction because the prosecution had made a misstep in obtaining a grand-jury determination of probable cause.” State v. Romano, 456 A.2d 746, 750 (R.I.1983).”

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