47 Wis. 2d 242 - State v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 51 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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““To hold that the above complaint demonstrates probable cause would circumvent the fourth amendment and would be tantamount to holding a complaint sufficient to withstand challenge as long as the language of the criminal statute allegedly violated is correctly and accurately recited. “A similar problem was faced by the United States Supreme Court in Giordenello v. United States (1958), 357 U.S. 480, 487 , 78 Sup. Ct. 1245, 2 L. Ed.2d 1503 , wherein the court found a complaint deficient where it did no more than recite the statutory elements of the crime charged. That court stated: “ ‘Indeed, if this complaint were upheld, the substantive requirements would be completely read out of Rule 4 [substantially the same as sec. 954.02(2), Wis. Stats.], and the complaint would be of only formal significance, entitled to perfunctory approval by the Commissioner. This would not comport with the protective purposes which a complaint is designed to achieve.’ “The deficiency in this complaint is, of course, not what was in it but what is omitted. The use of statutory language is not proscribed, nor do we seek to have drafters of complaints search out recondite synonyms for the clear statutory language that was carefully selected by the legislature. Rather, a constitutionally sufficient complaint must contain the ‘essential facts’ constituting the offense charged.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Travis · 91 Wis. 2d 72 - Ritacca v. Kenosha County Court

2. “[p]robable cause for an arrest is less than that required for a bindover . . .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 102 Wis. 2d 367 - State v. Cheers · Williams v. Kobel

3. ““What is the charge? Who is charged? When and Where is the offense alleged to have taken place? Why is this particular person being charged? Actually, there is a sixth ‘W.’ As the journalism professor puts it, ‘Unless the source (of the news) is obvious, the reader always asks at once, ‘Who says so ?’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 51 Wis. 2d 659 - State v. Becker