Thomas v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions — most recently May 2018 · most notably State v. Adams (1980), State v. Delva (1991)
38 state decisions — followed in 10 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Davis v. Alaska · Roviaro v. United States · Moore v. Illinois · United States v. Carll · United States v. Sealy, Inc.
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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[A]n indictment should be read in the light of common sense and should not be vulnerable to attack for technical defects. The fundamental purposes of the indictment are to furnish the accused with a description of the charge against him to enable him to prepare his defense and to permit him to claim double jeopardy in the future should he again be charged with the same offense. The requirement that every element of the offense should be alleged must be read in the light of this `fairness' approach. [9]”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Kott v. State · Amidon v. State“The court shall instruct the jury on all matters of law which it considers necessary for the jury’s information in giving their verdict, and whether or not requested to do so, shall give the following basic instructions on all proper occasions: * * * * * * (2) That the testimony of an accomplice ought to be viewed with distrust and the oral admissions of a party with caution.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Stork v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.