Overton v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In separate grounds of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to quash the indictment and his motion to require the State to elect on which count he was to be tried. The motion to quash complained that by trying the offenses jointly, appellant could not properly prepare his defense because the offenses occurred on different dates, under different circumstances, with different accomplices. The motion further alleged that appellant would be prejudiced because a jury would imply that he was a “career robbery” when in fact he had never been convicted of a felony before. The motion to elect requested the trial court to require the State to elect which offense it would try first so that appellant could prepare his defense accordingly.... When a request is made to sever, the trial court must grant the request, and failure to do so results in reversible error.... In the instant case, the motions filed by appellant timely apprised the trial court that the appellant did not desire to have the offenses joined in a common trial. We find that the motions clearly amounted to a request for severance under § 3.04, supra, and that the court erred in failing to grant the request.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Rice v. State · Coleman v. State

2. “"Whenever two or more offenses have been consolidated or joined for trial under Section 3.02 of this code, the defendant shall have a right to a severance of the offenses.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brown v. State · Warmowski v. State

3. “However, V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Sec. 3.04, mandates that an accused has the right to a severance of such joined offenses.... See Waythe v. State, Tex.Cr. App., 533 S.W.2d 802 . When a request is made to sever, the trial court must grant the request, and failure to do so results in reversible error....”

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