Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The majority attributes to the phrasing of the statute a clarity which I believe is absent. The statute is poorly drafted and, as observed by the majority, is subject to differing constructions. See Op. at 1064-1065. For example, one might argue, with more than a degree of merit, that if the evidence is totally lacking with regard to whether the weapon was loaded or unloaded, a jury could not convict of an A misdemeanor because the “unloaded” element of the offense has not been established. This leads to a conclusion that the statute in fact makes the matter of an unloaded firearm an affirmative defense upon which the defendant bears the burden of proof. Subject to the above caveat, I agree that it is not necessary for the State to prove that the firearm was loaded in order to obtain a D felony conviction.”

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

2. “the statutory language indicates a clear intent that the State is not required to prove that a firearm was loaded in order to obtain a conviction for pointing a firearm as a Class D felony.”

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

3. “is entitled [to be convicted] of a class A misdemeanor rather than a class D felony only if the evidence affirmatively demonstrates that the firearm was not loaded.”

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