State v. Shelton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

37 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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “By insisting upon election, we emphasize that the state is not required to identify the particular date of the chosen offense .... If, for example, the evidence indicates various types of abuse, the prosecution may identify a particular type of abuse and elect that offense.... Moreover, when recalling an assault, a child may be able to describe unique surroundings or circumstances that help to identify an incident. The child may be able to identify an assault with reference to a meaningful event in his or her life, such as the beginning of school, a birthday, or a relative’s visit.... Any description that will identify the prosecuted offense for the jury is sufficient. In fulfilling its obligation under Burli-son to ensure that an election occurs, the trial court should bear in mind that the purpose of election is to ensure that each juror is considering the same occurrence. If the prosecution cannot identify an event for which to ask a conviction, then the court cannot be assured of a unanimous decision.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State of Tennessee v. Robert Charles Brown · State v. Hallock

2. “the rules of evidence and the rules of procedure have been relaxed to some extent to accommodate very young witnesses. Nevertheless, the constitutional protections guaranteed a criminal defendant, who is presumed by law to be innocent until proven guilty, cannot be suspended altogether because of the victim’s age or relative inability to testify. In cases such as this one, the state must either limit the testimony of prosecuting witnesses to a single event, or prepare the case so that an election can be made before the matter is submitted to the jury to decide.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State of Tennessee v. Robert Charles Brown · Tidwell v. State

3. “[TJhere should be no question that the unanimity of twelve jurors is required in criminal cases under our state constitution. A defendant’s right to a unanimous jury before conviction requires the trial court to take precautions to ensure that the jury deliberates over the particular charged offense, instead of creating a “patchwork verdict” based on different offenses in evidence.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Kendrick · State v. Johnson