Thomas v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “As the Court of Criminal Appeals observed in Humason , a trier of fact could have rationally concluded from the evidence presented that appellant knowingly or intentionally exercised actual care, custody, control, or management over the cocaine. However, it would be just as rational for that same trier of fact to conclude that appellant was simply made nervous by his sudden encounter with the police and was completely unaware of the presence of the cocaine and the swizzle stick in a car that he could have just borrowed from someone else.”

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

2. “because there was no proof showing that the vehicle belonged to or had been in appellant’s possession for such a period of time and under circumstances that would affirmatively link him to the contraband. Indeed, the evidence shows that the vehicle was leased to another party.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Cooper v. State