State v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 111 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 113 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““* * * All reasonable care, and the utmost good faith, must be exercised by the prosecutor, when questioning an accused about prior convictions, to the end that an accused is not prejudiced by suggestions that he has been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony, when in fact he has not been so convicted. * * *” “* * * Whether or not the prosecutor has acted improperly, and whether or not the defendant has been prejudiced thereby, must depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. * * *””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Herrera · State v. Garcia

2. ““Statutory provisions for the selection of jurors are usually construed by the courts to be directory, unless a contrary intent is clearly manifest by the statute, and, being directory, an immaterial departure from the method prescribed does not vitiate the trial or invalidate the jury. The present act authorizes the judge of the district court to excuse jurors from service for good and sufficient reasons, but the court necessarily determines the sufficiency of the reasons justifying the discharge. But the authorities generally hold that, where a competent and impartial jury is secured in a criminal case, a conviction will not be reversed because of some inadvertent failure to comply with every directory provision of the jury law, in the absence of a showing of prejudice against the accused. * * * ””

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

3. “In a homicide case the defendant is entitled to have the jury determine the degree and effect of his intoxication upon his mental capacity and deliberative powers. However, the evidence as to intoxication must be substantial and must relate to defendant’s condition as of the time of the commission of the [specific intent crime], or be so closely related in time that it can reasonably be inferred that the condition continued to the time of the [crime].”

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