Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Not every nonresponsive answer should be stricken. It is only when the unresponsive answer is also inadmissible that it should be stricken_ A “nonresponsive” objection alone, however, merely informs the trial court why the objection was not made prior to the answer being given. Even after the “nonresponsive” portion of the objection is made, there remains the question of the testimony’s admissibility. In this context, in order to properly exclude evidence or obtain an instruction to disregard, a party must address in its objection both the nonresponsiveness and the inadmissibility of the answer. Further, a blanket “nonresponsive” objection alone is an insufficient objection to preserve error where the response is a hybrid answer— that is, where a portion of the answer is objectionable and a portion of the answer is not objectionable.”

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

2. “Further, the State may not, on cross-examination, transform appellant's fact witness into a character witness in order to impeach with otherwise admissible 'have you heard' questions.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People of Michigan v. Darrell John Wilder