State v. Reiner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

38 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Upon an inquiry into the validity of a verdict or indictment, a juror may not testify as to any matter or statement occurring during the course of the jury's deliberations or to the effect of anything upon his or any other juror's mind or emotions as influencing him to assent to or dissent from the verdict or indictment or concerning his mental processes in connection therewith. A juror may testify on the question whether extraneous prejudicial information was improperly brought to the jury's attention or whether any outside influence was improperly brought to bear on any juror, only after some outside evidence of that act or event has been presented. However a juror may testify without the presentation of any outside evidence concerning any threat, any bribe, any attempted threat or bribe, or any improprieties of any officer of the court. His affidavit or evidence of any statement by him concerning a matter about which he would be precluded from testifying will not be received for these purposes.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Hughes, Unpublished Decision (11-13-2003)

2. “A review of the transcript of the in-camera examination confirms that two of the jurors specifically testified that they had heard the statement in question. Although the first of these jurors stated that she was uncertain as to the identity of the person who had made the statement, the second juror was able to identify the person. Although the person identified as having made the statement denied having done so, when the second juror was questioned about this a second time, he continued to state that he “believed” he knew the identity of the person. Thus, the record before this court contains some evidence supporting the trial court’s factual finding. As a result, this court concludes that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declaring a mistrial. The statement clearly evidences a juror who was not impartial, and instead predisposed to a guilty verdict and a death penalty.”

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

3. “The rule is intended to preserve the integrity of the jury process and the privacy of deliberations, to protect the finality of the verdict, and to insulate jurors from harassment by -8- Butler CA2012-04-088 dissatisfied or defeated parties by prohibiting a court from questioning a juror about what occurred during deliberations, or about anything else that may have affected the juror's mind or emotions in the deliberations process once a final verdict is rendered.”

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