State v. Relliford’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Prior to excusing you, there was an emotional situation with the witness. Obviously, this is an emotional situation for her, but I ask you to strike any of her comments that she may have made immediately preceding the time that I excused you. You are only to consider the comments that are allowed into evidence, not any comments that are stricken. And, at some point in the case, I will instruct you that sympathy does not play a part in this case. If at some point you should come to feel, have feelings of any sympathy for any party, either party, I’ll ask you to set aside those feelings and judge the case based strictly on the evidence that is presented.” During its final instructions to the jury, the court again instructed the jury not to consider any remarks that it had stricken and further ordered it not to be influenced by feelings of sympathy. “The decision as to whether to grant a motion for a mistrial ... is one that requires the trial court to exercise its judicial discretion. . . . Our review of the trial court’s exercise of its discretion is limited to questions of whether the court correctly applied the law and could reasonably have concluded as it did. . . . Every reasonable presumption will be given in favor of the trial court’s ruling. ... It is only when an abuse of discretion is manifest or where an injustice appears to have been done that a reversal will result from the trial court’s exercise of discretion. . . . “While the remedy of a mistrial is permitted un”

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