People v. Cortez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

40 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'The court told you that beyond a reasonable doubt is not proof beyond all doubt or imaginary doubt. Basically, I submit to you what it means is you look at the evidence and you say, "I believe I know what happened, and my belief is not imaginary. It's based in the evidence in front of me.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Cowan · 247 Cal. App. 4th 651 - People v. Cowan

2. “that jurors treat the court's instructions as a statement of the law by a judge, and the prosecutor's comments as words spoken by an advocate in an attempt to persuade”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 7 Cal. 5th 166 - People v. Dalton · 6 Cal. 5th 1012 - People v. Potts

3. “'it is for the jury to decide whether the witness's perceptions and recollections are credible.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 5 Cal. 5th 339 - People v. Lopez · 6 Cal. 5th 541 - People v. Johnson