514 So. 2d 620 - State v. Walter’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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On May 10, 1986 at approximately midnight, the victim had just finished cleaning her bedroom carpet and was taking a shower; her eight year old son was sleeping in an adjacent bedroom. She heard a noise at the front of the house and investigated, but found nothing unusual. She returned to showering. Moments later, a young black man stepped into the bathroom -with a yellow rag over his face, carrying a large kitchen knife. He held the knife to the victim’s throat, and told her to be quiet or he would hurt her and her son. He dragged her into her bedroom, pushed her to the floor and ordered her to perform fellatio on him. He then performed cunnilingus Ron the victim and had intercourse with her. In the struggle, the victim sustained lacerations and bruises. At trial, the victim testified that during the commission of the crimes the assailant dropped the rag from his face and she was able to observe him at a very close range for several minutes in the lighted bedroom. The police detective who handled the case testified that four days after the crimes, he took the victim to a police artist who drew a composite sketch of the perpetrator. When the sketch was circulated through the New Orleans Police Department, another officer recognized the sketch as Sullivan Walter. The victim was then shown a photographic line-up, and she identified Walter as her assailant. She also identified Walter at trial.”

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

2. “Despite the failure of the defense to avail itself of remedies in the Trial Court and despite the‘weight of the victim’s identification of Walter, we believe his assignment of error has merit. Therefore, out of an abundance of care that Walter’s rights are not violated and due to the possibility that the test results produced on the day of trial may be exculpatory Brady material, we hold that the police criminalist’s testimony that the perpetrator was a non-se-cretor, is tantamount to newly discovered evidence. Construing C.Cr.P. arts. 851(3) and 854 very broadly, we believe that under the circumstances of this ease, Walter should be entitled to move for a new trial on the basis of secretor test results. We, therefore, remand this case to the District Court so that Walter may move for a new trial and present, at the | shearing on the motion, evidence that he is a secretor. That evidence will not, of course, be determinative of whether Walter is entitled to a new trial....”

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