McDonald v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

57 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 57 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The guilt of the accused does not follow as a presumption of law from the unexplained possession of the property recently stolen; but the presumption of guilt in such a case is one that the jury may infer as a matter of fact, of which they are the sole judges to be considered in connection with all the other circumstances of each particular case. Rimes v. State, 36 Fla. 90 , 18 South. Rep. 114 ; Collier v. State, 55 Fla. 7 , 45 South. Rep. 752 . "The defendant is not required to prove the truth of his explanation of the possession by him of goods recently stolen. If the explanation leaves a reasonable doubt upon-the minds of the jury they should acquit unless the State proves the falsity of the explanation; in which case the jury may infer guilt of larceny from the mere possession of goods recently stolen. If no presumption of guilt may be properly inferred, the guilt must be proven as in other cases, or the defendant is entitled to an acquittal. Where a verdict of guilty is found it indicates that the explanation was not believed by the jury, and unless, upon a fair consideration of all the facts and circumstances in evidence, it appears that the jury were not governed by the evidence in their finding, the verdict should not be disturbed on the ground of insufficiency of the evidence.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Tidwell v. State · 736 So. 2d 77 - Jackson v. State

2. “Where a party who is found in possession of goods recently stolen directly gives a reasonable and credible account of how he came into such possession, or such an account as will raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, then it becomes the duty of the state to prove that such account is untrue, otherwise he should be acquitted. The account given must be not only reasonable, but it must be credible, or enough so to raise a reasonable doubt in the minds of the jury, who are the judges of its reasonableness and probability, as well as of its credibility. The account given may be reasonable and highly plausible, yet, if the jury do not believe it, they have the right to convict upon the evidence furnished by the possession of the stolen goods alone, even though the state does not put in any evidence directly to prove the falsity of the account given.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 736 So. 2d 77 - Jackson v. State