Gordon v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]t is essential that he in some way `... associate himself with the venture, that he participate in it as in something that he wishes to bring about, that he seek by his action to make it succeed.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Carman v. State · Resek v. State

2. “The purpose of the rule is to emphasize the very suspect motivations of this class of witness. Such witnesses oftentimes are cooperating with the prosecution to obtain some special advantage for themselves, and they may be willing to distort the truth or to lay the entire blame on the defendant in hopes of avoiding further criminal liability or imprisonment. The instruction serves to inform the jury of this background of ‘intrigue, contrivance, distrust and prejudice to afford fundamental fairness to the parties consistent with due process of law.’”

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

3. “The court . . . 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 passage
   e.g. Evans v. State