Ward v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

81 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 81 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(a) After notice to the defendant, a matter of form or substance in an indictment or information may be amended at any time before the date of trial on the merits commences. On the request of defendant ... not less than 10 days, or a shorter period if requested by the defendant, to respond to the amended indictment or information. (b) A matter of form or substance in an indictment or information may also be amended after the trial on the merits commences if the defendant does not object. (c) An indictment or information may not be amended over the defendant’s objection as to form or substance if the amended indictment or information charges the defendant with an additional or different offense or if the substantial rights of the defendant are prejudiced.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. McCoy v. State · Valenti v. State

2. “[Y]es, obviously, yes. Except that with the companion bill to this, for a constitutional amendment [SJR 16], allowing the courts to do just exactly that. And without that companion bill there is going to be no amendment to the substance of an indictment because it is no longer an act of the grand jury but is an act of the prosecutor or the court amending the bill. So you have to have this SJR 16, or else you are not going to be able to contemplate any change in that indictment. You can delete therefrom, you can strike surplusage, but you can never add to an indictment. And the bill contemplates adding an element of the offense when you drop one. And that brings up another issue.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Perez v. State · Friesel v. State

3. “What type substantive errors could be corrected in an indictment without thwarting the will of the grand jury or violating an accused’s constitutional right to grand jury indictment in a felony cause? Although there were references to a court or prosecutor amending a charging instrument, there was no testimony regarding the actual physical mechanics of making an amendment to a charging instrument. This lack of testimony indicates to us the legislature did not attach any technical or particular meaning to the term “amend,” and thus we will not frustrate legislative intent by applying a hypertechnical interpretation to the term.”

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