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

1. “The requirement is one of minimal competency within the wide range of reasonable performance which may be expected of a skilled attorney in the course of a trial, not a prohibition against all mistakes and errors in judgment: Lawyers may display a wide spectrum of ability and still have their performance fall within the range of competence displayed by one of ordinary training and skill in the criminal law. It is only when the ability is below the nadir of that range that we hold it to constitute a deprivation of effective assistance of counsel. We are not condoning the second-guessing of trial counsel in making the myriad decisions encountered in a criminal trial, for it is a truism that hindsight furnishes 20-20 vision. All that is required of counsel is that his decisions, when viewed in the framework of trial pressures, be within the range of reasonable actions which might have been taken by an attorney skilled in the criminal law, regardless of the outcome of such decisions.”

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

2. “The grand jury is an accusatorial body charged with the task of determining whether sufficient evidence exists to justify initiating formal criminal proceedings against the accused. The grand jury thus deals with probability of guilt; unlike the petit jury, its function does not involve the ultimate determination of guilt or innocence based on proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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