Knisley v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Knisley’s interpretation of this statute would violate legislative intent in this area. This statute was designed to protect witnesses as well as victims, not to provide a defense for the accused. Here, the testimony [of the third party] concerned her sexual experiences with the accused. The intent of the Rape Shield statute is to protect those who testify on some matter in such cases from having their entire sexual history exposed to the jury as an impeachment tool. When permitted in the past, the real focus of the trial became diffused as to the trial’s emphasis shifted from the accused’s sexual conduct to that of the victim or a witness. Limitation of this diffusion is the purpose of the Rape Shield statute.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Mason v. Indiana

2. “(a) In a prosecution for a sex crime ... (1) Evidence of the victim's past sexual conduct; ... (3) Opinion evidence of the victim's past sexual conduct; ... (5) Reputation evidence of the victim's past sexual conduct; ... may not be admitted, nor may reference be made to this evidence in the presence of the jury except as provided in this chapter.”

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

3. “sex crime cases to those acts showing a 'depraved sexual instinet' [citation omitted),”

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