65 So. 3d 971 - Phillips v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘A comment on the defendant’s failure to testify is to be “scrupulously avoided.” Arthur v. State, 575 So.2d 1165, 1186 (Ala.Crim.App.1990), cert. denied, 575 So.2d 1191 (Ala.1991). “Every time a prosecutor stresses a failure to present testimony, the facts and circumstances must be closely examined to see whether the defendant’s right to remain silent has been violated.” Windsor v. State, 593 So.2d 87, 91 (Ala.Crim.App.1991), quoting Padgett v. State, 45 Ala.App. 56 , 223 So.2d 597, 602 (1969). “In a case where there has been only an indirect reference to a defendant’s failure to testify, in order for the comment to constitute reversible error, there must be a close identification of the defendant as the person who did not become a witness.” Windsor v. State, supra, quoting, Ex parte Williams, 461 So.2d 852 (Ala.1984). “ ‘ “ ‘Alabama law clearly holds that “[w]here there is the possibility that a prosecutor’s comment could be understood by the jury as reference to failure of the defendant to testify, Art. I, § 6 [Const. of Alabama of 1901], is violated.” ’ Ex parte Wilson, 571 So.2d 1251, 1262 (Ala.1990). However, “a prosecutor may legitimately base his argument on the evidence of the appellant’s statement” to the police. Hereford v. State, 608 So.2d 439, 442 (Ala.Crim.App.1992). See also Henderson v. State, 584 So.2d 841, 855 (Ala.Crim.App.1988); Smith v. State, 588 So.2d 561, 570 (Ala.Crim.App.1991); Kimble v. State, 545 So.2d 228, 230 (Ala.Crim.App.1989); Brinks v. Stat”

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

2. ““ ‘ “ ‘The question of whether a confession was voluntary is initially to be determined by the trial court.’ ” Minor v. State, 914 So.2d 372, 388 (Ala.Crim.App.2004), quoting Jackson v. State, 562 So.2d 1373, 1381 (Ala.Crim.App.1990). “[A]ny conflicts in the testimony or credibility of witnesses during a suppression hearing is a matter for resolution by the trial court. Absent a gross abuse of discretion, a trial court’s resolution of [such] conflict[s] should not be reversed on appeal.” Sheely v. State, 629 So.2d 23, 29 (Ala.Crim.App.1993) (citations omitted). “[A] trial court’s ruling based upon conflicting evidence given at a suppression hearing is binding on this Court, ... and is not to be reversed absent a clear abuse of discretion.” Jackson v. State, 589 So.2d 781, 784 (Ala.Crim.App.1991). “When there is conflicting evidence of the circumstances surrounding an incriminating statement or a confession, it is the duty of the trial judge to determine its admissibility, and if the trial judge decides it is admissible his decision will not be disturbed on appeal ‘unless found to be manifestly contrary to the great weight of the evidence.’ ” Ex parte Matthews, 601 So.2d 52, 53 (Ala.1992), quoting Williams v. State, 456 So.2d 852, 855 (Ala.Crim.App.1984). “ ‘In reviewing the correctness of the trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, this Court makes all the reasonable inferences and credibility choices supportive of the decision of the trial court.’ ” Kennedy v. State, 6”

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

3. ““The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Kentucky’s method of execution, Baze [v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 62 ,] 128 S.Ct. [1520] 1538 [ (2008) ], and noted that ‘[a] State with a lethal injection protocol substantially similar to the protocol we uphold today would not create a risk that meets this standard.’ Baze, [ 553 U.S. at 61 ], 128 S.Ct. at 1537 . Justice Ginsburg and Justice Souter dissented from the main opinion, arguing that ‘Kentucky’s protocol lacks basic safeguards used by other States to confirm that an inmate is unconscious before injection of the second and third drugs.’ Baze, [ 553 U.S. at 114 ], 128 S.Ct. at 1567 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). The dissenting Justices recognized, however, that Alabama’s procedures, along with procedures used in Missouri, California, and Indiana ‘provide a degree of assurance — missing from Kentucky’s protocol — that the first drug had been properly administered.’ Baze, [ 553 U.S. at 121 ], 128 S.Ct. at 1571 (Ginsburg, J., dissenting). “The State argues, and we agree, that Belisle, like the inmates in Baze, cannot meet his burden of demonstrating that Alabama’s lethal-injection protocol poses a substantial risk of harm by asserting the mere possibility that something may go wrong. ‘Simply because an execution method may result in pain, either by accident or as an inescapable consequence of death, does not establish the sort of “objectively intolerable risk of harm” that qualifies as cruel and unusual.’ Baze, [ 553 U.S. at 50 ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Albarran v. State