568 So. 2d 1 - Wilhelm v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 14 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. “0.10 percent or more by weight of alcohol in the person's blood ... shall be prima facie evidence”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. McDonald v. DEPT. OF PRO. REGULATION · Register v. State

2. “is not a sufficiency-of-the-evidence, a correct result, a not clearly wrong, a substantial evidence, a more probable than not, a clear and convincing, or even an overwhelming evidence test. Harmless error is not a device for the appellate court to substitute itself for the trier-of-fact by simply weighing the evidence. The focus is on the effect of the error on the trier-of-fact. The question is whether there is a reasonable possibility that the error affected the verdict. The burden to show the error was harmless must remain on the state. If the appellate court cannot say beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not affect the verdict, then the error is by definition harmful.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bonine v. State · 867 So. 2d 384 - Cardenas v. State

3. “However, the fact that this Court has interpreted the words “prima facie” when used in a statute as a valid inference does not mean that a jury instruction utilizing those words is also necessarily valid. Although this court is the final interpreter of state statutory language ... the standard to determine the constitutionality of a jury instruction ... is whether “there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury has applied the challenged instruction in a way” that shifts to the defendant the burden of persuasion on an element of the offense charged.”

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