Alanis v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The evidence pertaining to appellant’s possession of a firearm constitutes same transaction contextual evidence rather than background contextual evidence, as such evidence is of acts, words, and conduct of appellant at the time of his arrest. Therefore, possession of a firearm is admissible only if necessary to understand the facts and circumstances of the present offense of murder. The State could have described the arrest without mentioning the firearm. Such omission would not have impaired or clouded the jury’s understanding of the murder offense, nor would it have caused the evidence regarding the murder to appear incomplete. No evidence establishes any relationship between the murder weapon and the firearm found in possession of appellant at the time of his arrest. The State specifically offered the extraneous act of possession of a firearm to show appellant’s propensity for dangerousness; however, appellant’s reputation for peacefulness was not an issue before the trial court. There is no acceptable connection between the present offense and this extraneous act that would make the extraneous act admissible as same transaction contextual evidence.”

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