Emerson v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1994
Citation profile
1 district · 115 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 116 later decisions — most recently March 2025 · most notably 8 Cal. 4th 587 - People v. Leahy (1994), Weatherred v. State (2000)
1 district · 115 state decisions — followed in 22 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on United States v. Leon · Rakas v. Illinois · Roe v. Wade · Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka et al. · Frye v. United States
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 116 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“For testimony concerning a defendant’s performance on the HGN test to be admissible, it must be shown that the witness testifying is qualified as an expert on the HGN test, specifically concerning its administration and technique. In the case of a police officer or other law enforcement official, this requirement will be satisfied by proof that the officer has received practitioner certification by the State of Texas to administer the HGN.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Kerr v. State · Gullatt v. State“[i]f scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education may testify thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Smith v. State · Quinney v. State“•After consulting the literature ... and considering case law from other jurisdictions ... we conclude that the theory underlying the HGN test is sufficiently reliable.... The scientific materials addressing the issue have reached the uniform conclusion that the consumption of alcohol has a cognizable effect on human eye movement. We believe that the accuracy of those sources cannot be reasonably questioned. Technique We also conclude that the technique employed in the HGN test, as designed and promoted by NHTSA, is reliable .... In this jurisdiction, officers who administer the HGN test receive standardized training in its administration .... The test procedures ... require an officer to screen for factors other than alcohol ... such as other drugs, neurological disorders, and brain damage, prior to administering the HGN test.... We take judicial notice of the reliability of both the theory ... and its technique. We are unable to conclude, however, that the HGN technique is a sufficiently reliable indicator of precise BAC [blood alcohol content]. [Citation and footnote omitted.]”
3 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Smith v. State · Gullatt v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.