Middlebrook v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 2 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On August 23, 1996, Jerome Perkins was shot in the left abdomen and Jerry Williams was shot in the neck by a masked assailant. The bullet was still lodged in William’s neck at the time of trial. The shooter fired at least five shots at Perkins and Williams. Prior to the shooting, [petitioner] and Jerry Williams had been engaged in an ongoing dispute originating from their separate relationships with the same woman. The shooting occurred at approximately midnight in the early morning of August 23, 1996 on a crowded street corner in Wilmington. A masked man ran from between two houses, and began shooting at Perkins and Williams. The shooter then chased Perkins down the street. After Perkins ducked into a neighboring house, the shooter fled the scene. While running away the shooter dropped something out of a backpack he was carrying. Although the shooter’s face had been completely concealed, he pulled up his mask to look for the dropped item. When the mask was raised, both Jerome Perkins and Meisha Perkins testified that they had a clear view of [petitioner’s] face. A box of bullets was later recovered in this area by the police. Williams also testified that [petitioner] was the shooter. Williams stated that he had known [petitioner] for eight years prior to the shooting. He testified that he was able to identify [petitioner] as the shooter based on what Williams knew to be [petitioner’s] mannerisms, walk, and body type. Following the shooting, but five days prior to the arrest ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Middlebrook v. Carroll

2. “The law presumes that the jurors followed the Superior Court's instruction.”

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