659 So. 2d 1021 - Butler 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. “" '. . . In reviewing allegedly improper prosecutorial comments, conduct, and questioning of witnesses, the task of this Court is to consider their impact in the context of the particular trial, and not to view the allegedly improper acts in the abstract. Whitlow v. State , 509 So.2d 252 , 256 (Ala.Cr.App. 1987); Wysinger v. State , 448 So.2d 435 , 438 (Ala.Cr.App. 1983); Carpenter v. State , 404 So.2d 89 , 97 (Ala.Cr.App. 1980), cert. denied , 404 So.2d 100 (Ala. 1981). Moreover, this Court has also held that statements of counsel in argument to the jury must be viewed as delivered in the heat of debate; such statements are usually valued by the jury at their true worth and are not expected to become factors in the formation of the verdict. Orr v. State , 462 So.2d 1013 , 1016 (Ala.Cr.App. 1984); Sanders v. State , 426 So.2d 497 , 509 (Ala.Cr.App. 1982).' " Bankhead v. State , 585 So.2d 97 , 105-07 (Ala.Cr.App. 1989), remanded on other grounds, 585 So.2d 112 (Ala. 1991). " '[A] criminal conviction is not to be lightly overturned on the basis of a prosecutor's comments standing alone, for the statements or conduct must be viewed in context; only by so doing can it be determined whether the prosecutor's conduct affected the fairness of the trial.' " United States v. Young , 470 U.S. 1 , 11 , 105 S.Ct. 1038 , 1044 , 84 L.Ed.2d 1 (1985), quoted in Murry v. State , 562 So.2d 1348 , 1354 (Ala.Cr.App. 1988)."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 689 So. 2d 935 - Guthrie v. State

2. “"[E]ven if a timely objection had been made, viewing the prosecutor's statement in the context of the entire trial, it cannot be said that this statement affected the fairness of the trial, especially in light of the complete instructions as to the burden *Page 942 of proof given by the trial court to the jury."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 689 So. 2d 935 - Guthrie v. State

3. “Beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean beyond all doubt. It does not mean beyond a doubt; and it certainly does not mean to give the defendant the benefit of a doubt.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 689 So. 2d 935 - Guthrie v. State