State v. Hoban’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The defendant who is charged with committing a crime, although the State cannot specify its exact date, is still protected by the requirement that the trier of fact must find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. We think that in many cases the trier of fact’s determination of whether the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt will be affected by the witness’s inability to specify the exact day and time of the alleged crime and the subsequent inability of the defendant to establish an alibi defense over so long a period of time. However, the inability of the State to be so specific should not be an absolute bar to prosecution. Sufficient protections exist such that this lack of specificity does not violate an accused’s constitutional right to be apprised of the charges against him. The crux of this case was who did the trier of fact believe? In many prosecutions the outcome depends on this determination. Here, the court obviously believed the testimony of the prosecutrix and disbelieved that of the appellant.”

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

2. ““We find the more prudent rule of law to be reflected in those cases which expressly recognize that an alibi defense does not change the nature of the charges against the defendant or suddenly incorporate time as a necessary element of the offense. Any other rule would too often preclude prosecution of crimes involving child victims as here where the crimes are not discovered until some time after their commission. Leeway is necessary in charging sexual abuse and sexual intercourse with minors because children who are the victims of abuse may find it difficult to recall precisely the dates of offenses against them months or even years after the offense has occurred. The absence of such a rule would give rise to an untenable tactic. A defendant would simply have to make the assertion of alibi in order to escape prosecution once it became apparent that a child was confused with respect to the date of a sexual assault.””

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

3. “To trigger the application of the corroboration rule, the victim’s testimony must be “so contradictory or in conflict with physical facts, surrounding circumstances, and common experience as to be unconvincing.” [Citation omitted.] The corroboration rule does not apply, however, where the inconsistency or even contradiction bears on a proof not essential to the case.”

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