Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““When reviewing a ruling on the volun-tariness of a confession, we apply the standard articulated by the Alabama-Supreme Court in McLeod v. State, 718 So.2d 727 (Ala.1998): “ 'For a confession, or an inculpato-ry statement, to be admissible, the State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that it was voluntary. Ex parte Singleton, 465 So.2d 443, 445 (Ala.1985). The initial determination is made by the trial court. Singleton, 465 So.2d at 445 . The trial court’s determination will not be disturbed unless it is contrary to the great weight of the evidence or is manifestly wrong. Marschke v. State, 450 So.2d 177 (Ala.Crim.App.1984).... “ ‘The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides in pertinent part: “No person ... shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. ...” Similarly, § 6 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901 provides that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused ... shall not be compelled to give evidence against himself.” These constitutional guarantees ensure that no involuntary confession, or other in-culpatory statement, is admissible to convict the accused of a criminal offense. Culombe v. Connecticut, 367 U.S. 568 , 81 S.Ct. 1860 , 6 L.Ed.2d 1037 (1961); Hubbard v. State, 283 Ala. 183 , 215 So.2d 261 (1968). “ ‘It has long been held that a confession, or any inculpatory statement, is involuntary if it is either coerced through force or induced through an express or implied promise of leniency. Bram v. Un”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 155 So. 3d 1048 - Hosch v. State

2. ““‘Rule 402, Ala. R. Evid., provides that “[a]ll relevant evidence is admissible, except as otherwise provided by the Constitution of the United States or that of the State of Alabama, by statute, by these rules, or by other rules applicable in the courts of this State.” Rule 401, Ala. R. Evid., defines “relevant evidence” as “evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” “Alabama recognizes a liberal test of relevancy, which states that evidence is admissible ‘if it has any tendency to lead in logic to make the existence of the fact for which it is offered more or less probable than it would be without the evidence.’” Hayes [v. State], 717 So.2d [30] at 36 [ (Ala.Crim. App 1997) ], quoting C. Gamble, Gamble’s Alabama Evidence § 401(b). “[A] fact is admissible against a relevancy challenge if it has any probative value, however[ ] slight, upon a matter in the case.” Knotts v. State, 686 So.2d 431, 468 (Ala.Crim.App.1995) aff'd, 686 So.2d 486 (Ala.1996). Relevant evidence should be excluded only “if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice confusion of the issues or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, waste of time, or needless presentation of cumulative evidence.” Rule 403, Ala. R. Evid. “The general rule is that articles which are properly identified and which tend to sh”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 67 So. 3d 936 - Dotch v. State