Black v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

38 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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Therefore, although the Court of Appeals’ holding that the trial court erroneously failed to apply the law of parties to the facts of the case is correct, the Court of Appeals must consider whether the charging error was harmless.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Johnson v. State · Black v. State

2. “In Almanza supra, this Court recognized that Article 36.19, V.A.A.C.P. (1981), requires this Court to reverse convictions for charging error only if actual harm to a defendant occurred.... The presence or absence of actual harm is determined through an examination of the entire record. Thus, this Court abandoned the former rule of automatic reversal in favor of a practical standard requiring the demonstration of actual harm. ... In Almanza, supra, this Court made it clear that charging error must be reviewed in the context of the entire record.... Using Almanza, supra, in its proper context, Govan, supra, only requires reversal of preserved charging error on the law of parties if the law of parties was actually necessary for the jury to decide the case. If the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction of a defendant as a principal, then a jury would rationally convict the defendant as a principal rather than as a party.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Black v. State

3. “Judge Teague responds that the jury could have rejected whatever evidence might have shown appellant to be guilty as a principal. That argument might be persuasive if the record indicated that the jury had some basis for rejecting the evidence of the appellant’s guilt as a principal, i.e., if the State argued that appellant was guilty as a party or if there was conflicting evidence of appellant’s guilt as a principal. However, if there was no rational basis for the jury to reject the evidence of the defendant’s guilt as a principal, why should this Court presume the the [sic] jury acted irrationally and unnecessarily relied upon the law of parties? Given the emphasis in Alman-za, supra, upon actual rather than theoretical harm, the more practical approach of Govan, supra, properly presumes that the jury acted rationally and accepted the evidence of the defendant’s guilt as a principal, unless the record indicates otherwise.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Saunders v. State