State v. Chambers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Possession of property recently stolen, when no satisfactory explanation of such possession is made, shall be deemed prima facie evidence that the person in possession stole the property.”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Carlson · State v. Hill

2. “The use of the word “disproved” could well have indicated to a juror that the defendants were required to disprove guilt. An instruction which could be reasonably understood to relieve the State of its burden of proof is constitutionally defective. See Sandstrom, 442 U.S. 510, 524 , 99 S.Ct. at 2459 . Thus, the use of this instruction would itself have required reversal based on principles dictated by Sandstrom and without reference to the stricter application prescribed by Franklin .”

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

3. “In this case the trial court instructed the jury that possession of recently stolen property, in the absence of a satisfactory explanation, is “prima facie” evidence of theft by the person in possession of the property. Such an instruction, nevertheless, fits within the Franklin definition of a mandatory rebuttable presumption: “A [mandatory] rebuttable presumption ... requires the jury to find the element unless the defendant persuades the jury that such a finding is unwarranted.””

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