Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

125 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 125 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[A] A conviction based on circumstantial evidence cannot be sustained if the circumstances do not exclude every other reasonable hypothesis except that of the guilt of the defendant ... and it must be borne in mind that every circumstantial evidence case must be tested by its own facts to determine the sufficiency of the evidence to support the conviction.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gordon v. State · Lehman v. State

2. “Dr. Diaz-Esquivel testified the fatal injury was a “blow with a flat surface, ... or a very blunt instrument ... not a curved surface ... sort of a flat surface.” The pathologist did not speculate how the blow could or could not have occurred. He did not testify that it had to be by human means. He stated it was not consistent with a car falling on the deceased. No criminal instrument was found at the scene nor suggested by the pathologist. There were no eyewitnesses to the child’s injury.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Butts v. State

3. “Whether after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Shipley v. State