Ex Parte Seaton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Barbara Seaton was convicted of theft of a credit card for an act committed on November 28, 1973. Article 1555c of our former Penal Code provided: “ ‘A person who takes a credit card from the person, possession, custody, or control of another without the cardholder’s consent ... is guilty of credit card theft.’ “The same article defines ‘cardholder’ as: “ ‘[T]he person or organization named on the face of a credit card to whom or for whose benefit the credit card is issued,’ “The indictment charged that Seaton did: “ ‘... knowingly take a credit card from the person, possession and custody and control of Linda Lusk without the consent of the said Linda Lusk.’ “There is no allegation concerning who the cardholder was and whether the taking was with or without his consent. * * * * * * “An indictment which fails to allege all of the elements of an offense is void. Ex parte Abbey, 574 S.W.2d 104 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Ex parte Cannon, 546 S.W.2d 266 (Tex.Cr.App.1976). It may be attacked for the first time by post-conviction writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Roberts, 522 S.W.2d 461 (Tex.Cr.App.1975). “We agree with the district court that the indictment does not allege all the elements of an offense. Petitioner is entitled to the relief she seeks.””

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