State v. Miller’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““According to the testimony of the appellant, the prosecuting attorney had threatened him with prosecution for divers and sundry crimes which would work cumulative sentences, in addition to other harsh treatment which it was claimed the appellant received at the hands of the prosecut ing attorney. It was conceded by the prosecuting attorney that he had visited this appellant more than once at his cell, and once in company with the captain of the detectives, and with the prosecuting attorney, of Spokane county. All the charges of cruelty were indignantly denied by the prosecuting attorney, but in answer to a question propounded by the appellant, if he had had such a talk with him, he did say this: ‘Under the laws of this state you could be charged with all these burglaries and your sentence would be tacked one on the other. I did tell him that. I suppose that was a sort of an implied threat. Otherwise I never said a word in any threatening manner.’ The prosecuting attorney was there for a purpose. The evident purpose was to obtain a confession .from this appellant, and we think, under his own admission, that the threat which he made, or the implied threat as he terms it, was sufficient to render the confession made a confession obtained by duress. The appellant was confessedly a bright man and would understand, and it was no doubt intended that he should understand, that these cumulative sentences would follow if he did not confess. This is all that need be said so far as the ”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Harvill · State v. Miller