People v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 excited utterance exception was deduced initially by Wigmore from his analysis of res gestae cases. See 6 J. Wigmore, Evidence §§ 1745-1764 (3d ed. 1940), and “finds abundant support in the decided federal cases.” J. Weinstein & M. Berger, Weinstein’s Evidence, § 803(2)[01] (1990). Res gestae first came into common use in the early 1800’s as a “convenient escape” from the hearsay objection. See 6 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 1767 (3d ed. 1940). The rationale for the excited utterance exception, similar to that used in early res gestae cases, is that the declarant’s powers of reflection and ability to fabricate or misrepresent the events observed are momentarily suspended while the declarant is under the stress of excitement from a startling event, (citation omitted). Excited utterances withstand confrontation clause challenges because, as the Supreme Court noted in Idaho v. Wright, [ 497 U.S. 805 , 110 S.Ct. 3139 , 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990) ]: “The basis for the ‘excited utterance’ exception for example, is that such statements are given under circumstances that eliminate the possibility of fabrication, coaching, or confabulation, and that therefore the circumstances surrounding the making of the statement provide sufficient assurance that the statement is trustworthy and that cross-examination would be superfluous.” Consequently, because of their historical efficacy and inherent guarantees of trustworthiness, we hold that excited utterances, as defined by CRE 803(2), are firmly r”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 252 F. App'x 874 - Mitchell v. Watkins