State v. Peters’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

28 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[I]n many situations in which there are inconsistent verdicts, each verdict will be consistent on its face; it is only when you consider them together that the inconsistency becomes apparent.... In the final analysis, the verdict is just a communication from the jury to the judge. If the verdict is ambiguous, the best way to clarify the message is to ask the sender of the message (the jury) what was meant. Whenever possible, the jury should be allowed to resolve the inconsistency. Many times it is impossible to have any idea which verdict is correct and which is incorrect.... In a situation such as in the present case ... in which one of the verdict directors incorporates the elements of another charge by requiring a finding of guilty on the underlying charge, an argument can be made that since the verdict directors in effect require the jury to resolve the underlying charge first, it is safe to assume this is the correct verdict and that the second verdict is the incorrect one.... While this contention is not without merit, the assumption that the first count decided (the underlying felony) is correct is not necessarily valid. For example, the error may arise simply in the process of filling out the verdict forms, in which event either verdict could be the one intended by the jury. Since the jury is still present and the trial judge and attorneys are aware of the inconsistency and the inconsistent verdicts have not been accepted, the safest and most accurate way to resolve ”

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

2. ““We hold that the first two verdicts the jury attempted to return were inconsistent because if the defendant was not guilty of assault, he cannot be guilty of armed criminal action based on assault. The court acted properly in sending the matter back to the jury for further consideration. In addition, we hold that the action of the court did not subject [the defendant] to double jeopardy.””

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

3. “[b]urglary is a constituent element of a stealing charge under the statute and a jury verdict such as this is not merely inconsistent. It shows conclusively that the jury has failed to find a constituent element of the offense and therefore it cannot stand.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Owens