78 N.C. App. 365 - State v. Smallwood’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the circumstances of each case must be considered: for example, the extent of the threat to the victim; the physical stature of the knife wielder; the weakened state of the victim; or whether or not and to what extent the victim was actually injured. The circumstances of the case, rather than the physical description of the knife itself, ultimately determine this issue. ... Where the victim has in fact suffered serious bodily injury or death, the courts have consistently held that a knife is a dangerous or deadly weapon per se absent production [of the knife itself into evidence at trial] or [a] detailed description [of the knife via trial testimony].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Moore

2. “We note that Sturdivant , ... involved the definition of 'deadly' as opposed to 'dangerous,' and analyzed 'deadly' in terms of potential for producing death or great bodily harm. We perceive no functional difference in the terms, however. [Under section 14-87 ], the 'dangerous' weapon or means must be one which endangers or threatens life.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 241 N.C. App. 577 - State v. Holt

3. “Common law robbery is accordingly a lesser included offense of armed robbery. ... It is error to refuse to submit common law robbery to the jury where the evidence does not compel a finding that the weapon allegedly used is a dangerous weapon as a matter of law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Brandon