Woods v. Linahan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 federal appellate · 2 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “While we find that no error is shown in this case, we note our concern about the practice of using a private attorney, paid by family and friends of the victim, to prosecute persons accused of murdering a person dear to the people paying the private prosecutor. Human experience indicates that an attorney who is paid by a group of people to provide a service has some loyalty to those persons paying his fee. This loyalty may serve to prejudice the well recognized rights of a defendant accused of committing a crime. While we do not intimate that a defendant will always be prejudiced by the participation of a private attorney in a criminal prosecution, the chances are greater in this situation than where the state’s attorney, or an attorney appointed and paid by the state, prosecutes the case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 711 F. Supp. 1574 - Hughes v. Bowers

2. “these activities were not carried out under the direction, control, or knowledge of the district attorney.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. East v. Scott