Thomas v. State’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. “(1) No person, knowing that a criminal trial or proceeding or an investigation by a duly constituted prosecuting authority, law enforcement agency, grand jury or legislative committee of this state is pending or is about to be instituted, shall: (a) Alter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or thing with the purpose to impair its verity or availability in such proceeding or investigation.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Jennings · 629 So. 2d 263 - Munroe v. State

2. “[t]he defendant's act of tossing the small bag of cocaine away from his person while in the presence of the arresting officers at the scene of the purchase does not rise to the level of conduct which constitutes a concealment or removal of something for the purpose of impairing its availability for the criminal trial. In this case, the defendant did not conceal the cocaine. Although he removed the cocaine from his hand, he did not remove the cocaine from the immediate area of his interest. Mr. Boice merely abandoned the evidence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 666 So. 2d 131 - State v. Jennings

3. “pivot upon a defendant's successful removal or concealment of physical evidence, but on the type of conduct the legislature intended to criminalize under the tampering statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 590 So. 2d 982 - Jones v. State