State v. Oliveira’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 38 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Under our law, the gravamen of a criminal conspiracy is a common agreement between one or more persons to do an unlawful act. The Supreme Court has recognized that it is usually very difficult to prove in complete detail the explicit terms of an agreement. The existence of an agreement to enter into a criminal enterprise or to commit a criminal act can be established by inference, that is, the goals of the conspirators can be inferentially established by proof of the relations, conduct, circumstances and actions of the parties. Viewed in the light most favorable to the State, there are two cars on Division Street on December 18th, 1995, when the shooting starts. One car is the black Jeep which contains defendants Oliveira, [MjcKinney and Sanders. That Jeep turns the corner, enters onto Dexter Street. The white Taurus waits at the corner. Lorenzo Evans runs through the yards, comes out on the back street, which is Harrison Street, and that car has backed up and is face — and is laying in wait — its occupants, one with a gun, are laying in wait for Lorenzo Evans. That is a chain of events, if believed by a jury, that can substantiate an agreement between the parties. Under our law, once a conspiracy has been established, all members of the unlawful agreement are jointly and sever[al]ly liable for the acts of the conspirators.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 862 F. Supp. 2d 88 - Ferrell v. Wall

2. “On direct examination of Evans, the prosecutor asked Evans what Ferrell had done with the gun that Evans had seen in Ferrell’s hand. Evans responded that, “[h]e didn’t get a chance to point it at me, but * * At that point, the trial justice asked the prosecutor to move on. The defense, on cross-examination, attempted to challenge Evans’ statement. Evans testified that: “I’m telling [the jurors] that [Ferrell] pulled the gun out, and if I would have stayed longer, he would have pointed it at me and he would have shot.” Defense counsel immediately challenged this claim as foundationless and asked: “That’s what you’re assuming, correct?” The state objected to that question, and the trial justice sustained the state’s objection.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 862 F. Supp. 2d 88 - Ferrell v. Wall

3. “We have stated previously that: “where several persons combine or conspire to commit an unlawful act * * * each is criminally responsible for the acts of his associates or confederates in the furtherance of any prosecution of the common design for which they combine. Each is responsible for everything done by one or all of his confederates, in the execution of the common design, as one of its probable and natural consequences, even though the act was not a part of the original design or plan, or was even forbidden by one or more of them.” State v. Oliveira, 774 A.2d 893, 918 (R.I.2001) (quoting State v. Miller, 52 R.I. 440, 445-46 , 161 A. 222, 225 (1932)).”

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