Peters v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Children less than ten years old may testify if ‘it appears that they understand the nature and obligation of an oath.’ Ind.Code § 34-1-14-5(2). The determination of a child’s competency lies within the trial judge’s discretion since the trial judge has the opportunity to observe the child’s intelligence, demeanor and maturity. Lindsey v. State, (1984) Ind., 465 N.E.2d 721 ; Buttram v. State, (1978) 269 Ind. 598 , 382 N.E.2d 166 , reh. denied. This Court has held that a child is competent to testify if the trial court finds the child knows the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie and knows that he or she will be punished for telling a lie. Staton v. State, (1981) Ind., 428 N.E.2d 1203 . Accordingly, the trial court’s decision will not be reversed unless it represents a manifest abuse of discretion. Lindsey, supra; Stewart v. State, (1982) Ind., 442 N.E.2d 1026 .””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hodges v. State · Maynard v. State