Bell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[The defendant] could have challenged the legality of the taking of the blood sample in one of three ways: (1) by filing a pretrial motion to suppress evidence, (2) by waiting until the trial on the merits and objecting when the alleged unlawfully-obtained evidence was offered, or (3) by raising a factual dispute concerning the circumstances of the taking of the blood and requesting an article 38.23 jury instruction. [The defendant's counsel stated “no objection” to the admission of the blood test results. But the central issue on an article 38.23 instruction is not the admissibility of the evidence, but rather, the evidence’s consideration by the jury. In other words, by not objecting to the blood test results, [the defendant] waived any right to challenge the admissibility of the evidence or to instruct the jury that they must disregard it. In the present case, [the defendant] did not challenge the admissibility of the blood test evidence. He chose instead to raise a fact issue on [the defendants consent and obtain an instruction that if the jury resolved the fact issue in [his] favor, i.e., if they found that [the defendant] did not consent to the taking of the blood sample, then they would disregard the blood test evidence.”

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

2. “No evidence obtained by an officer or other person in violation of any provisions of the Constitution or laws of the State of Texas, or of the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, shall be admitted in evidence against the accused on the trial of any criminal case. In any case where the legal evidence raises an issue hereunder, the jury shall be instructed that if it believes, or has a reasonable doubt, that the evidence was obtained in violation of the provisions of this Article, then and in such event, the jury shall disregard any such evidence so obtained.”

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

3. “A reasonable person, injured and lying on a hospital stretcher, hearing from a police officer the words `you are under arrest' and `placed under arrest,' could conclude that he was not free to leave.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 57 Va. App. 731 - Young v. Commonwealth