State v. Narcisse’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The Supreme Court examined art. 921 and the issue of harmless error in State v. Gibson, 391 So.2d 421 (La.1980). The court recognized that La. Const.1974, art. 5, § 5(C) limits appellate jurisdiction to questions of law in criminal matters. As a result, the court stated, when examining the effect of an error by a trial court, an appellate court is not free to substitute its determination for that of the trier of fact as to what would or should have been decided in the absence of the error. The court went on to adopt the federal harmless error rule as stated and applied by the U.S. Supreme Court in Chapman v. California, 386 U.S. 18 , 87 S.Ct. 824 , 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967). The court stated that this rule would necessarily be followed in cases where a federal constitutional right of the defendant was impinged by the erroneous action of the trial court and that it would be used as a guideline in cases involving only errors of state law. The Gibson, supra, court adopted the Chapman test as follows: (1) "whether there is a reasonable possibility that the evidence complained of might have contributed to the conviction", and (2) "the court must be able to declare a belief that [the error] was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt." Gibson has since been followed by the courts of this state in determining whether or not an error was harmless. See: State v. Green, 493 So.2d 1178 (La.1986); State v. Banks, 439 So.2d 407 (La.1983); State v. White, 399 So.2d 172 (La.1981); State v. Smith, 4”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Swayze · 537 So. 2d 386 - State v. Mullins

2. “The doctrine of res gestae is broad and includes not only spontaneous utterances and declarations made before and after commission of a crime but also includes testimony of witnesses and police officers pertaining to what they heard or observed before, during, or after commission of the crime if a continuous chain of events is evident under the circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 81 So. 3d 760 - State v. Barfield

3. “A judgment or ruling shall not be reversed by an appellate court because of any error, defect, irregularity, or variance which does not affect substantial rights of the accused.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 537 So. 2d 386 - State v. Mullins