Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

74 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 74 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Any defendant in a criminal action shall be permitted to testify in his own behalf therein, but the failure of any defendant to so testify shall not be taken as a circumstance against him, nor shall the same be alluded to or commented on by counsel in the cause.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Angel v. State · Gardner v. State

2. ““Counsel’s remarks will not be deemed a reference to the defendant’s failure to testify where they could have been understood to apply to the nonproduction of a witness other than the defendant, or where there is nothing in the record to show that there were not other witnesses than the defendant who might have given testimony relevant to the issue. A reference to the lack of evidence concerning the activities or whereabouts of a defendant at a certain time is therefore not improper where it is shown that third persons could have testified to those matters. “A general reference to the defendant’s failure to produce evidence is not barred by the provision prohibiting comment on defendant’s failure to testify, and comment is barred only to the extent that the failure to testify is necessarily implied. For the prosecutor’s argument to come within the mandatory prohibition of the statute prohibiting comment on the defendant’s failure to testify, it must be such as cannot be reasonably applied to the failure of the accused to produce testimony other than his own. The provision is thus not transgressed by a statement to the effect that the accused has offered no defense, or an inadequate defense, or that the defense is a fabrication.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bustamante v. State · Cockerham v. State

3. “And another important thing in this ladies and gentlemen is that you never heard Tommy Johnson [appellant] tell Mr. Houston or anybody else that he was sorry for what he did. He never up to now has said “I am sorry I committed this robbery, I confess to it, and I want you to give me probation”, you never heard him say that.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Harden v. State · Thomas v. State