Hernandez v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Prior to amendment by the legislature in 1975, Article 38.07 ... addressed only the offense of seduction .... Prior law . . . also addressed the need for corroboration of the victim in seduction cases. Article 709 provided, “Female alleged to be seduced —In prosecutions for seduction, the female alleged to have been seduced shall be permitted to testify, but no conviction shall be had upon her testimony unless the same is corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the offense charged.” In 1975, the 64th Legislature extended the requirement for corroboration to include a necessity for corroborating the testimony of victims of all sexual offenses under Chapter 21, Penal Code, without regard to the victim’s age, except in those cases where an outcry is made within six (6) months after the date on which the offense is alleged to have occurred. In doing so, the Legislature sought to treat all victims identically by doing away with the need for corroboration when a timely outcry is made to someone other than the defendant, (emphasis supplied).”

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

2. “A conviction under Chapter 21, Penal Code, is supportable on the uncorroborated testimony of the victim of the sexual offense if the victim informed any person, other than the defendant, of the alleged offense within six months after the date on which the offense is alleged to have occurred.”

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

3. ““In all prosecutions for seduction the female alleged to have been seduced shall be permitted to testify; but no conviction shall be had upon her testimony unless the same is corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the offense charged.””

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