State v. Wright’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““At the close of the cross-examination of the defendant the county attorney asked him this question: ‘Isn’t it a fact that heretofore, in this court, in this cause, you have entered a plea of guilty to first degree murder?’ but the court, upon the objection of defendant’s counsel, declined to permit him to answer it. The defendant contends, however, that the mere asking of the question prejudiced his rights before the jury and deprived him of a fair and impartial trial, though no authorities are cited upholding this position. The state, upon the other hand, takes the position that the question was proper and, this being true, that the answer, much less the mere asking of the question, could not have had any prejudicial effect. In support of this position it cites People v. Boyd, 67 Cal.App. 292 , 227 P. 783, 787 , in which the Supreme Court of California held that when a plea of guilty is withdrawn and one of not guilty substituted the fact that the defendant pleaded guilty is admissible, and in reaching this conclusion specifically overruled People v. Ryan, 82 Cal. 617 , 23 P. 121 , stating that the announcement therein was out of harmony with what the court believed to be the correct and the better rule. In holding a plea of guilty to be an admission of the truth of the charge against him, which, with the other evidence, was properly left to the consideration of the jury, the court said: ‘Such an admission was not, of course, conclusive evidence against the defendant. It wa”

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