Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “At approximately 2:00 p.m. on the afternoon of April 7, 1995, defendant was in a tavern named Mom's Place in Lafayette, Indiana. Defendant had been in Mom's Place before and knew, as he told a onetime cell-mate, that the owner, Barbara "Mom" Nobile, would be alone in the tavern at that time, that she often did not pay attention while she was in the tavern, and that she kept money in a cigar box at the bar. Defendant told his previous cell-mate that Nobile "would be easy to knock off." (R. at 3882.) J.C. Dallas Long and his son David arrived at Mom's at approximately 2:00 that afternoon. They saw both Nobile and defendant in the bar. When the Longs left sometime between 2:80 and 3:00 p.m., defendant was still in Mom's Place. Around 8:15 or 3:20, Richard Barrett walked into Mom's Place. After a few minutes, during which time he did not see Nobile, Barrett became suspicious and looked around. He found No-bile in the utility room of the building. Her throat was slit and she had bled to death through a wound to her jugular vein. Nobile had also been stabbed on her palms, arms, chest, and back. Several hundred dollars [were] - missing from the bar. At some point during the afternoon of April 7, defendant's girlfriend saw him near her home. She observed what appeared to be blood on his pants leg between his knee and ankle. He told her that he had fallen and cut himself. Defendant was also seen later on April 7 at several bars where he spent money freely, though he had needed to borr”

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

2. “Fourth, defendant argues that the Indiana State Police laboratory lacks accreditation, and that this affects the reliability and admissibility of the evidence. However, the lab was accredited by the American Society of Crime Lab Directors in 1990. Furthermore, the lab runs its tests under controlled conditions, follows specific protocols, and conducts quality testing on the kits and the analysts. Any concerns in this respect go to the weight of the evidence, not its admissibility.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 897 So. 2d 419 - JHH v. State

3. “(a) If scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise. (b) Expert scientific testimony is admissible only if the court is satisfied that the scientific principles upon which the expert testimony rests are reliable.”

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