State v. Bell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he phrase 'a telephone call,' coupled with the phrase, 'likely to cause annoyance,' shows that the legislature intended to punish each telephone call made with the requisite intent to harass, annoy or alarm regardless of the number of times, if any, the victim was actually harassed, annoyed or alarmed.... [T]he phrase 'likely to cause annoyance or alarm' shows that the effect on the listener is not relevant. Instead, the statute is concerned with the conduct of the individual making the telephone call. Additionally, the phrase 'a telephone call' shows the legislature's intent to punish for a single telephone call. Therefore, an individual violates § 53a-183(a)(3) each time the individual makes a telephone call with the intent to harass, alarm and annoy the victim in a manner likely to cause annoyance or alarm regardless of the number of times the victim actually became alarmed or annoyed, if any, and regardless of how close in time the calls were made or whether the victim was actually harassed, annoyed or alarmed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 176 Conn. App. 537 - State v. Reed