State v. Schimpf’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

27 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"We think that Dr. Brietstein's testimony clearly confirmed that [the child] had, in fact, been sexually abused. Our only difficulty with this is that he confirmed it for a jury deciding defendant's guilt or innocence rather than for a psychologist deciding how to treat a victim. We find that Dr. Brietstein's testimony invaded the jury's province by offering testimony which went to credibility. Credibility of a witness is a matter only for the jury ... The jury had no need for his testimony. We daily submit to juries the question of whether unlawful sexual activity has occurred. They routinely return verdicts without the assistance of expert testimony. Crouched in scientific terms as it was, it could only have confused and misled them ... Its admission was error."”

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

2. “We need not cite authority for the undefined use of the words “unlawful” and “reasonably” throughout the law. Plainly, the statutes are clear without the inclusion of the definitions of “unlawful” and “reasonably.” ... [W]e hold that under the facts of this case, unlawful sexual contact was complete upon the defendant’s intentional touching of the victim, whether for sexual arousal or gratification of himself, or of the victim, or of both. We hold, therefore, that the language complained of, read in the context of both statutes, provides clear warning of the prohibited conduct and sufficiently delineates boundaries so that a person may determine upon which side of the line his acts fall.”

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

3. “Several general principles of admissibility appear throughout our case law concerning expert testimony, and they are helpful in our subject matter analysis. They include the principles that the evidence must not invade the province of the jury; that the evidence should never be admitted unless it is clear that the jurors themselves are incapable, for want of experience or knowledge on the subject, to draw correct conclusions from the facts proved; that the evidence should neither mislead nor confuse the jury; and most importantly, the evidence should not relate to the credibility of witnesses.”

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