State v. Williamson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Defendant] was denied the effective assistance of counsel.... Counsel failed to exercise the customary skill and diligence that a reasonably competent attorney would have exercised under similar circumstances and [defendant] was prejudiced thereby. Specifically, trial counsel was ineffective for the following reasons: (1) Trial counsel failed to investigate and call as witnesses at [defendant’s] trial: ... Renee Davis [and 26 other persons] .... Had they been called at trial, these witnesses would have testified, in support of [defendant’s] version of the fight, that [defendant] did not fire the shot which killed Alvin Jackson, and there is a reasonable probability that the jury would have acquitted [defendant]. Renee Davis would have testified that the state’s only eyewitness, Sandra Triblett, had told Renee after the shooting that she saw [defendant’s] codefendant, Phinezy Johnson, shoot Alvin Jackson. Had Renee Davis been called to testify by defense counsel, her testimony would have impeached the state’s main witness with a prior inconsistent statement. Neither defense counsel nor his investigator ever talked to Renee Davis.”

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

2. “We will not reverse a trial court’s exercise of discretion absent a showing of clear abuse and substantial prejudice resulting to the defendant. The declaration of a mistrial is a drastic remedy that should be employed only in extraordinary circumstances in which prejudice to the defendant can be removed in no other way.”

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