913 So. 2d 150 - State v. Cosey’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “To obtain a habitual offender conviction, the State is required to establish both the prior felony conviction and that the defendant is the same person convicted of that felony. State v. Payton, 2000-2899, p. 6 (La.3/15/02), 810 So.2d 1127, 1130 , citing State v. Neville, 96-0137 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/21/97) , 695 So.2d 534, 538-39 . The court in Payton said that in attempting to establish identity, the State may present: (1) testimony from witnesses; (2) expert opinion regarding the fingerprints of the defendant when compared with those in the prior record; (3) photographs in the duly authenticated record; or (4) evidence of identical drivers license number, sex, race and date of birth. (Emphasis added) Payton , 2000-2899, p. 6, 810 So.2d at 1130-31 . The court in Payton cited the twenty-five year old case of State v. Westbrook, 392 So.2d 1043 (La.1980), where it had held in a second offense driving while intoxicated case that a driver’s license number, sex, race, and birth date all identified the prior offender as the defendant, and thus that the State proved the defendant’s identity as the same person previously convicted. Thus, not only are fingerprints on the bill of information not necessary to establish that a defendant charged as a habitual offender is the same person previously convicted, fingerprints are not absolutely required to prove identity. In Payton , however, as in the instant case, the New Orleans Police Department fingerprint expert matched the defendant’s fin”

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