Towner 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. “Matters regarding the weight and credibility of the evidence are to be resolved by the jury. We are authorized to reverse only where, with respect to one or more of the elements of the offense charged, the evidence so considered is such that reasonable and fair-minded jurors could only find the accused not guilty.... [W]e give the jury’s verdict the benefit of all favorable inferences, accept as true the evidence favorable to the verdict, and reverse only if we are “convinced that the verdict is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence that, to allow it to stand, would be to sanction an unconscionable injustice.””

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

2. “[T]he phrase “from the presence” or “in the presence” has been construed in a number of cases. “Presence” in this connection is not so much a matter. of eyesight as it is one of proximity and control: the property taken in the robbery must be close enough,, to the victim and sufficiently under his control that, had the latter not been subjected to violence or intimidation by the robber, he could have prevented the taking.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jacob Reynolds v. State of Mississippi

3. “Taking one item of property owned by two people is one larceny. Robbing two people of one item of property at gunpoint while the property is within their proximity and control, even if neither of them owns it, may be two robberies. This is because larceny is a crime against property while robbery is a crime against persons. Thus the number of persons does not matter in one but does in the other.”

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