Gould v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “absence of any "affirmative link" between the robbery and Gould's alleged heroin addiction. The only possible relevance of this evidence goes to the hotly contested issue of identification. The state's argument for relevance is based on reasoning that because Gould was unemployed and had a $300 a day heroin habit, he had to commit the robbery to support his habit.... [W]e find the proffered inference too attenuated and possessing "too many gaps" to show motive and thus the identity of the robber.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 102 Wash. 2d 777 - State v. LeFever · 337 N.J. Super. 275 - State v. Mazowski

2. “evidence's `probative value to show motive [is] far outweighed by its tendency to incite a jury to resolve the issue of guilt or innocence on [an accused's] character rather than on proof of the essential elements of the crime.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 337 N.J. Super. 275 - State v. Mazowski

3. “too attenuated and possess[es] too many gaps”

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