State v. Irving’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ * * * We think, that in all cases of this nature, the law has invested courts of justice with the authority to discharge a jury from giving any verdict, whenever, in their opinion, taking all the circumstances into consideration, there is a manifest necessity for the act, or the ends of public justice would otherwise be defeated. They are to exercise a sound discretion on the subject; and it is impossible to define all the circumstances, which would render it proper to interfere. To be sure, the power ought to be used with the greatest caution, under urgent circumstances, and for very plain and obvious causes; and in capital cases especially, courts should be extremely careful how they interfere with any of the chances of life, in favor of the prisoner. But, after all, they have the right to order the discharge; and the security which the public have for the faithful, sound and conscientious exercise of this discretion, rests, in this, as in other cases, upon the responsibility of the judges, under their oaths of office. * * * ””

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

2. ““The trial court committed reversible error in overruling Appellant’s Motion to Dismiss the amended information filed against Appellant because the amended information on which the State proceeded at trial was not valid in that the evidence adduced at trial demonstrated that the prosecution proceeded against Appellant by way of indictment following his discharge at a preliminary hearing and then at the time of trial, substituted an information pleading Appellant’s prior conviction. The use of either indictment or information more than once in proceedings against a defendant subjects that defendant to double jeopardy, and the trial court erred in permitting the prosecution to proceed without a preliminary hearing on a substitute information which enhanced the range of punishment and thus, acted to change the nature of the charge against which Appellant was supposed to defend without granting him a preliminary hearing on that charge.””

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

3. “He may believe that any error in admitting improper evidence can be cured by a motion to strike or a request for admonition, or can be refuted by impeachment of the witness or contrary defense evidence. Indeed, even when a palpably prejudicial error has been committed a defendant may have valid personal reasons to prefer going ahead with the trial rather than beginning the entire process anew, such as a desire to minimize the embarrassment, expense, and anxiety mentioned above. These considerations are peculiarly within the knowledge of the defendant, not the judge, and the latter must avoid depriving the defendant of his constitutionally protected freedom of choice in the name of a paternalistic concern for his welfare.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Jones v. Kiger