Williams v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 11 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) the court is reasonably well-satisfied that the testimony given by a material witness was false; (2) ... without the testimony, the jury might have reached a different conclusion; and (3) ... the party seeking the new trial was taken by surprise when the false testimony was given and was unable to meet it or did not know of its falsity until after the trial.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Opsahl v. State · Reed v. State

2. “Irby testified at the hearing that his trial testimony was true, that his affidavit recanting that testimony was false, and that he had never talked with [S.C.] and did not know her. Irby also testified at the hearing that while in prison, a fellow prisoner named Jackson had provided him with appellate briefs from the Williams case. According to Irby, Jackson and three other prisoners, whom Irby refused to identify over Williams’ objection, had threatened him, telling him to help Williams or he would regret it. Irby testified that he had been aided in preparing his false affidavit by the appellate briefs and by conversations with Jackson.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Edbert Neal Williams v. State of Minnesota