55 Ala. App. 74 - Allred v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

30 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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Appellant further contends that the alleged confession was not the product of a rational intellect and a free will thus rendering the statement inadmissible. “The Supreme Court of Alabama, through Simpson, J., stated in Goldin v. State, 271 Ala. 678 , 127 So.2d 375 , that: “ ‘ . . . The fact that an accused is not in full possession of his or her mental faculties when the confession is made does not render it inadmissible, but only affects the weight to be accorded by the jury; or is provable merely to support other evidence that the confession was not voluntary. To render such a confession inadmissible on that ground the mania must have been such that the accused was either an idiot or a lunatic during lunacy. Redwine v. State, 258 Ala. 196 , 61 So.2d 724 .’ “Also in Elrod v. State, 281 Ala. 331 , 202 So.2d 539 , the Supreme Court of Alabama, through Merrill, J., stated the proposition as follows: “ ‘ . . . Accused’s intelligence, character and situation at the time of the confession of the crime charged are important considerations in determining whether the confession was voluntary, but the fact that accused was of tender age or weak intellect will not alone render the confession inadmissible in evidence as involuntary. State v. Ashdown, 5 Utah 2d 59 , 296 P.2d 726 , affirmed 357 U.S. 426 , 78 S.Ct. 1354 , 2 L.Ed.2d 1443 . Evidence tending to show a defendant’s weak mentality, feeblemindedness, and mental stress does not affect the admissibility of the confessions, but ra”

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