State v. Grant’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “At trial, Sam [a defense witness] testified he failed to tell the police about certain matters raised by the state because he was “under a lot of stress” when he made his statement. His credibility was in issue. The precise issue was whether his explanation for the omissions in his prior statement was credible. Merely hearing him say he was under stress is significantly different from actually seeing his demeanor and the manner of his speech that could show the stress. Indeed, a jury is specifically instructed that “in determining the believability of a witness and the weight to be given to testimony of the witness, you may take into consideration the witnesses] manner while testifying; ...” MAI-CR3d 302.01. And, on appeal, we consistently emphasize that the proper determination of a witness’s credibility depends in large part upon his demeanor and manner of testifying. See, e.g. State v. Skillman, 228 Mo. 434 , 128 S.W. 729, 731 (Mo.1910). If these statements are to make sense in the present context, they must mean the jury should have been allowed to observe Sam’s demeanor and manner at the time he made his statement to the police, in order to determine whether his explanation based on stress was credible. But, the jury was denied this opportunity and was limited to his explanation at trial: “I was under a lot of stress.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 50 Va. App. 437 - Jones v. Commonwealth

2. “the state shall, upon written request of defendant’s counsel, disclose to defendant’s counsel such part or all of the following material and information within its possession or control designated in said request: (1) The names and last known addresses of persons whom the state intends to call as witnesses at any hearing or at the trial, together with their written or recorded statements, and existing memo-randa, reporting or summarizing part or all of their oral statements; [and] (2) Any written or recorded statements and the substance of any oral statements made by the defendant or by a co-defendant, a list of all witnesses to the making, and a list of all witnesses to the acknowledgement, of such statements, and the last known addresses of such witnesses[.]”

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