7 Cal. 3d 448 - People v. Sharp’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 federal appellate · 105 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 138 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It is apparent, of course, that constitutional language granting the right to the assistance of counsel lends no express support to a claim that an accused has the constitutional right to defend without counsel. Nor can due process requirements, in the sense that .what justice seeks to achieve is a fair trial, be construed as demanding that an accused be entitled to defend without counsel merely because he is of a mind to do so. This is not to say that the right to counsel, like other constitutional rights, may not be waived in a proper case. Moreover, the Sixth Amendment guarantees only ‘assistance,’ and does not expressly purport to ‘force a lawyer upon a defendant.’ (citations) Nevertheless, the right to waive a constitutional protection is not itself necessarily a right of constitutional dimensions.” (Sharp at 455 , 103 Cal.Rptr. at 237 , 499 P.2d at 493 ).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 404 F. Supp. 1108 - Houston v. Nelson

2. “The fairness of a trial is not to be predicated on any purported right of an accused to proceedings which are planned, directed or conducted by him, but rather on proceedings which will accord him the fullest opportunity to preserve all trial rights and successfully defend against the charges.... if an accused has been accorded a fair trial, subtle analyses which pretend to establish that he might have been better defended had different counsel or tactics been employed, cannot require by hindsight a conclusion that the trial was not, in fact, fair.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Strawder

3. ““[Djespite the constitutional (art. I, § 13) and statutory (Pen.Code, § 686) provisions that defendant has the right to appear and defend in person and with counsel, defendant is not entitled to have his case presented in court both by himself and by counsel acting at the same time or alternating at defendant’s pleasure [emphasis in original] [citations omitted]. So long as defendant is represented by counsel at the trial, he has no right to be heard by himself [citations omitted].””

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