State v. Peace’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 1 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Our jurisprudence provides that when a defendant is charged with an offense triable by a six-member jury and he is tried by a jury of twelve members, the verdict and sentence are null. In State v. Nedds, supra, the defendant was charged with theft and tried and convicted by a twelve-member jury. Citing La. Const. art. 1, § 17 and La.C.Cr.P. art. 782, the court noted that it has consistently held that a jury composed of either more or less than the correct number of jurors renders the verdict null. Therefore, the case must be reversed and remanded to the trial court for a new trial. This rule was reiterated in State v. Smith, supra, and State v. Marcantel, 388 So.2d 383 (La.1980). In State v. Smith, supra, the supreme court stated that error in the size of the jury is discoverable on the face of the record and therefore may be noted ex proprio motu, without formal objection or an assignment of error. The rule announced in State v. Nedds, supra, has been followed by the appellate courts of this state. See State v. Clark, 589 So.2d 549 (La.App. 1st Cir.1991), writ denied, 592 So.2d 1333 (La.1992); State v. Adams, 525 So.2d 1256 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988), writ denied, 532 So.2d 130 (La.1988); State v. King, 524 So.2d 1376 (La.App. 1st Cir.1988); State v. Pollard, 438 So.2d 1208 (La.App. 3d Cir.1983), writ denied, 443 So.2d 1125 (La.1984). Accordingly, because the defendant’s convictions and sentences are invalid in this case due to improper jury size, they are hereby vacated and the”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 876 So. 2d 96 - State v. Prater