Garcia v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... is comparable to diagnosis of illness, sometimes simple, but quite often subject to further question. In both cases, analysis is based upon certain known physical facts. Because medical diagnosis is subjectively fact bound, people often seek a second or even third medical opinion upon receiving an unfavorable diagnosis. In the case of an autopsy, the medical examiner is not confined in his analyses to observable outward symptoms; he is able to examine and test vital organs. Nevertheless, the medical examiner’s determination of causation is based upon a synthesis of his medical training and education, his experience in the field, his examination of the body and its parts_ His conclusions derive from an analytical thought process involving certain judgment calls which may be subject to interpretation and human error.”

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

2. “Much of what a medical examiner observes and reports will be objective, routine, scientific determinations of an unambiguous nature. From these determinations, the medical examiner may draw conclusions which, to varying degrees, will be subjective. Therefore, reports prepared by a medical examiner may be both objective and subjective.”

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