Hood v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We conclude that the type of error presented in violation of the mandatory provision of article 35.23 in the instant case is not an error subject to harm analysis under Rule 81(b)(2). The error cannot be subjected to a harm analysis in any meaningful manner because this record does not reveal any concrete data from which an appellate court can meaningfully gauge or quantify the effect of the error. This does not mean that every violation of article 35.23 is to be excluded from a harm analysis under Rule 81(b)(2). Our holding is limited to the violation of article 35.23 as shown by the particular facts and circumstances of the instant case.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jackson v. State · Sanchez v. State

2. “Article 35.23 in pertinent part provides: The court on its own motion may and on the motion of either party shall, after having given its charge to the jury, order that the jury not be allowed to separate, after which the jury shall be kept together and not permitted to separate except to the extent of housing female jurors separate and apart from male jurors, until a verdict has been rendered or the jury finally discharged.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jackson v. State · Casias v. State

3. “It seems to [me] that the “harm analysis” mandated by Rule 81(b)(2) can be applied to any error without fear of diminishing an appellant’s rights. If the appellate record in a particular case does not contain enough data from which to gauge or quantify the effect of an error, then the reviewing court obviously could not determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the error made no contribution to the conviction or punishment. Accordingly, Rule 81(b)(2) would require that the conviction in such a case be reversed. This approach strikes [me] as far simpler to administer and apply than one in which reviewing courts are left to divine which types of error are subject to a harm analysis and which are not.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Jackson v. State