Newell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'[tlhe most significant 'and material evidence of defendant's guilt is his possession of the stolen property. Possession is a strong cireumstance tending to show guilt and only slight corroborative evidence of other inculpatory circumstances is required”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. King v. State · Cowell v. State

2. “[A] party is not to be convicted of one crime by proof that he is guilty of another. Otherwise stated, the prosecution may not attack the character of a defendant unless the defendant himself has first placed his character in issue. * * * The record in Dorador’s trial shows the prosecution placed the accused’s character in issue and produced testimony designed to show criminal misconduct which was in no manner connected with the charge for which the defendant was being tried.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kwallek v. State · Gezzi v. State

3. ““Possession plus an explanation which the jury could find to be false is corroboration. [Citations.] It is a factfinder’s question whether explanation raises a doubt. [Citations.] The trier of fact is not required to believe the defendant’s explanation of possession. [Citations.] The cases cited in this paragraph were jury-tried. The weakness or falsity of the defendant’s explanation can be considered as supportive of guilt, when hitched to exclusive possession. [Citations.]” 548 P.2d at 14 .”

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