71 So. 3d 1069 - State v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Generally, a trial court’s failure to advise the defendant of his right to a hearing and his right to remain silent is considered harmless error, when the defendant’s multiple offender status is established by competent evidence offered by the State at a hearing, rather than by admission of the defendant. In the instant matter, defense counsel stipulated what the testimony of the fingerprint expert would be if he testified, and further stipulated that Brown was the same person convicted of the predicate offenses. A hearing was held on defense counsel’s objections to the evidence on one of the predicate offenses, following which the trial court adjudicated Brown to be a third felony offender. However, we find that, because Brown was never informed of his statutory rights under La. R.S. 15:529.1(D), his acknowledgment or confession of his prior felony convictions is invalid. The stipulation as to the testimony of the fingerprint expert does not change our analysis inasmuch as it, too, was made in the absence of the required advice. Further, although the State presented certified copies of Brown’s predicate convictions, it did not present sufficient proof that he was the same person that pled guilty to those offenses. Establishing a defendant’s identity as the same person convicted of a prior felony offense may be accomplished by a variety of methods, including the testimony of witnesses, fingerprint analysis by an expert, photographs contained in a duly authenticated record, or”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 108 So. 3d 360 - State v. Hayes