Pickett v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The corroborating evidence need not be sufficient standing alone to sustain the conviction, but it must, independent from that of the accomplice, tend to a substantial degree to connect the defendant with the commission of the crime. Rhodes v. State, 276 Ark. 203 , 634 S.W.2d 107 (1982); Gibson v. State, 41 Ark.App. 154 , 852 S.W.2d 326 (1993). The test is whether, if the testimony of the accomplice were completely eliminated from the case, the other evidence independently establishes the crime and tends to connect the accused with its commission. Gordon v. State, 326 Ark. 90 , 931 S.W.2d 91 (1996); Gibson v. State, supra. The corroborating evidence may be circumstantial so long as it is substantial; evidence that merely raises a suspicion of guilt is insufficient to corroborate an accomplice’s testimony. Gordon v. State, supra; Gibson v. State, supra.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 82 Ark. App. 61 - Brown v. State