Landis v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"The admission or rejection of evidence is not a matter of judicial grace. It is a legal right. To be admissible, evidence must logically tend to prove a material fact. Accordingly, evidence of prior crimes is generally inadmissible in a criminal case, because it has no tendency to establish the guilt or innocence of the accused. . . . Evidence of prior crimes is admissible, however, if it is relevant to some issue in the case, such as intent, motive, knowledge, plan, identity, or credibility. . . . The admissibility of prior convictions in such cases is justified only by their relevance to the issues. The undesirable tendency to prejudice remains, but the overriding interests of the State in arriving at the truth prevails."”

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

2. “If: (1) the state in the manner prescribed by IC 35-34-1-2.5 sought an increased penalty by alleging that the person was previously convicted of the offense; and (2) the person was convicted of the subsequent offense in a jury trial; the jury shall reconvene for the sentencing hearing. The person shall be sentenced to receive the increased penalty if the jury ... finds that the state has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the person had a previous conviction for the offense.”

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

3. “[W]e find here that where the State is required to prove a prior conviction in order to elevate the current offense, a bifurcated trial must be held wherein evidence of the defendant’s prior conviction, and the acts which culminated in the prior conviction, shall not be introduced until the jury has first decided upon the defendant’s guilt for the charge at hand.”

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