Roberts v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““There may be situations in which police activity is so provocative and resistance so understandable that it can only be concluded that the police were not engaged in the lawful performance of their official duties.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Wheaton v. State · Best v. State

2. “A person commits a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one (1) year, a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000.00), or both, if he knowingly obstructs, impedes or interferes with or resists arrest by a peace officer while engaged in the lawful performance of his official duties.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Van Horn v. State · Oien v. State

3. “"Our inquiry does not end with our conclusion that the last sentence in [the instruction] was erroneous. `Errors in instructions not injurious or prejudicial are not cause for reversal, and the appellant has the burden of showing harmful error.' Mainville v. State, Wyo., 607 P.2d 339, 343 (1980). In fact, even instructional error of constitutional dimensions may be ignored in some cases. The United States Supreme Court recently stated in Connecticut v. Johnson, 460 U.S. 73 , 103 S.Ct. 969, 976 , 74 L.Ed.2d 823 (1983): "`[I]n light of Chapman [ v. California, 386 U.S. 18 , 87 S.Ct. 824 , 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967)] these cases cannot be read for the broad proposition that instructional error of constitutional dimensions may never be harmless.' * * *"”

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