State v. Bourgeois’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The reason for the rule of exclusion lies in the tendency of triers of fact to give excessive weight against the accused respecting any specific illegal activity. It further tends to confuse the jury concerning the main issue of guilt or innocence of the offense charged and calls upon the accused to account for past wrongdoings for which he is not being tried. The main thrust of such evidence, such as other unrelated wrongful acts of the accused, is to pollute the minds of the jury against the defendant.... `If such testimony should be admitted, the defendant might be overwhelmed by prejudice, instead of being tried upon the evidence affirmatively showing his guilt of the specific offense with which he is charged.'”

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

2. “Unless character is an essential element of the offense charged, the only inquiry that can be made into specific instances of conduct is, as [Maine Rules of Evidence] 405(a) provides, through cross-examination of the character witness. . . . .”

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

3. “`objective of cross-examination of a character witness for an accused is to show an inadequate basis for the reputation to which the witness has testified on direct'”

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