Murray v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The purpose of jury instructions is to inform the jury of the law applicable to the facts without misleading the jury and to enable it to comprehend the case clearly and arrive at a just, fair, and correct verdict. In reviewing a trial court’s decision to give a tendered jury instruction, we consider (1) whether the instruction correctly states the law, (2) is supported by the evidence in the record, and (3) is not covered in substance by other instructions. The trial court has discretion in instructing the jury, and we will reverse only when the instructions amount to an abuse of discretion. To constitute an abuse of discretion, the instructions given must be erroneous, and the instructions taken as a whole must misstate the law or otherwise mislead the jury. We will consider jury instructions as a whole and in reference to each other, not in isolation.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Emerson v. State · Munford v. State

2. “Id. at 902-908 . Thus, we concluded that manufacture of drugs was not a material element of the crime of possession of precursors with intent to manufacture and that possession of precursors with intent to manufacture was not a substance offense in the context of the habitual substance offender statute. Id. at 908 . Here, the record does not indicate the nature of the overt act alleged in connection with Whaley's conspiracy conviction. In order to qualify as a substance offense, the State was required to show that a material element of Whaley's prior convietion was the”

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

3. “The best evidence of legislative intent is the language of the statute, giving all words their plain and ordinary meaning unless otherwise indicated by statute. We will presume that the legislature intended the language used in the statute to be applied logically and not to bring about an unjust or absurd result. We must also strictly construe penal statutes against the State to avoid enlarging them beyond the fair meaning of the language used.”

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