State v. Bolden’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 12 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When the issue of sufficiency of evidence is raised on appeal, the critical inquiry of the reviewing court is 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 proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 , rehearing denied, 444 U.S. 890 , 100 S.Ct. 195 , 62 L.Ed.2d 126 (1979); State ex rel. Graffagnino v. King, 436 So.2d 559 (La. 1983); State v. Duncan, 420 So.2d 1105 (La.1982); State v. Moody, 393 So.2d 1212 (La.1981). It is the role of the fact finder to weigh the respective credibilities of the witnesses, and therefore the appellate court should not second-guess the credibility determinations of the trier of fact beyond the sufficiency evaluations under the Jackson standard of review. See State ex rel. Graffagnino, 436 So.2d 559 , citing State v. Richardson, 425 So.2d 1228 (La.1983). In order for the state to obtain a conviction, it must prove the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. The Jackson standard has been codified at La.Code Crim.P. art. 821 as the standard for post verdict judgments of acquittal.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 85 So. 3d 810 - State v. Perkins

2. “When a juror expresses a predisposition as to the outcome of a trial, a challenge for cause should be granted. Yet, if after subsequent questioning the juror exhibits the ability to disregard previous views and make a decision based on the evidence presented at trial, the challenge is properly denied. When assessing whether a challenge for cause should be granted, the trial judge must look at the juror’s responses during her entire testimony, not just “correct,” isolated answers; or, for that matter, “incorrect,” isolated answers. (Citations omitted.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 127 So. 3d 1034 - State v. Segura

3. “Although the trial judge erred in making the comments at issue, we conclude that such error was harmless to the defendant. Under the present facts, it is clear that the guilty verdict in this trial was unattributable to this error. For these reasons, even if error occurred, it was clearly harmless, as there was no reasonable likelihood the general legal ideas outlined before voir dire contributed to the defendant's conviction and sentence in this trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 734 So. 2d 650 - State v. Montgomery