Brooks v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In Rose II [ 752 S.W.2d 529 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1986) ] the court [of criminal appeals] told us to apply the rule 81(b)(2) harmless error test. Under that test, the State has the burden to prove the parole instruction played no role in the jury’s assessment of punishment. At the same time Rose II told us to apply the rule 81(b)(2) test, it also told us to presume the jury followed the statutory and curative instructions to disregard the parole instruction. This presents us with a problem: How can we place the burden on the State and at the same time apply the presumption? If we require the State to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the parole instruction did not contribute to the sentence, we must reverse almost all cases. If, however, we presume the jury did not consider the parole instructions, we must affirm all cases.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Faulkner v. State