94 So. 3d 1209 - Johnson v. State’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. “The purpose of an indictment is to provide the accused reasonable notice of the charges against him so that he may prepare an adequate defense. An indictment must contain the essential facts constituting the offenses charged and shall fully notify the defendant of the nature and cause of the accusation. Any potential ambiguity created by including the phrase “goods, merchandise and other valuable items” is negated by the indictment’s express reference to section 97-17-23 and the specific charging language that [appellant] broke into a “dwelling house.” * * * [T]he indictment’s language and its citation to the code section for burglary of a dwelling house fully notified [the appellant] of the offense charged. Indeed, the indictment twice referenced Callon’s “dwelling house.” And the charging document included all essential elements of the dwelling-house burglary — breaking and entering a dwelling house with the intent to commit a crime. Thus, we find no reversible error in Count I. * * * [The] phrase [“goods, merchandise and other valuable items”] is mere surplus-age, which could have easily been removed from the indictment without changing the substance of the dwelling-house burglary charge.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 131 So. 3d 1251 - Snowden v. State

2. “did wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and burglariously break and enter the dwelling house of Lindsey Callón wherein goods, merchandise and other valuable items were kept and stored, with the felonious intent of Johnson to wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and burglariously take, steal and carry away said goods, merchandise and other valuable items and did in fact take, steal and carry away a rifle, and the personal property of Lindsey Callón, found and kept in said dwelling house.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 131 So. 3d 1251 - Snowden v. State

3. “[T]he ambiguity over which statute he was being charged forced him to go to trial without notice of the charges against him[;] ... the ambiguity require[d] [that] he be resentenced under the lesser statute, [section 97-17-33(1), which carries a lesser sentence; and] the inclusion of the additional language about “goods, merchandise and other valuable items” created another element to the crime, which was neither proven at trial nor included in the jury instructions.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 131 So. 3d 1251 - Snowden v. State