94 So. 3d 409 - Marks v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘[A]n instruction should advise the jury on the purposes for which prior acts are admitted, meaning uses that are plausible in the .case at hand, and should not include a laundry list of every conceivable use.’ 1 Christopher B. Mueller and Laird C. Kirkpatrick, Federal Evidence § 4:30 at 789 (3d ed.2007) (emphasis added). In this case, however, the jury was allowed to consider the evidence regarding Billups’s involvement in the Avanti East killings for several implausible purposes, including, among others, opportunity and absence of mistake or accident. For example, Billups made no argument at trial that Lockett’s killing was the result of an accident or that he lacked the opportunity to kill Lockett; rather, Billups’s defense was that another person, Charles Cooper, was responsible for Lockett’s murder. “By simply reciting the complete ‘laundry list’ of permissible theories under Rule 404(b), [Ala. R. Evid.,] the trial court’s instruction in this case gave the jury inadequate guidance. See Ex parte Belisle, 11 So.3d 323, 333 (Ala.2008) (‘[A]n appellate court “presume[s] that the jury follows the trial court’s instructions unless there is evidence to the contrary.” ’ (quoting Cochran v. Ward, 935 So.2d 1169, 1176 (Ala.2006))). The trial court’s instruction also failed to limit the State to the purposes — as nonspecific as they were — that it advanced in support of admission of the evidence regarding Billups’s involvement, in the Avanti East killings. Thus, we conclude that ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Towles v. State

2. ““The circuit court’s instructions in this case permitted the jury to consider -the collateral-act evidence for the purposes of showing motive, opportunity, plan, knowledge, and modus operandi. On appeal, the State argues that opportunity and plan were at issue and that, therefore, the circuit court properly instructed the jury as to those purposes. The State also argues that the evidence was admissible to prove identity and preparation — purposes for which the jury was not instructed regarding the collateral-act evidence. The State does not address the additional purposes— motive, knowledge, or modus operandi— on which the jury was instructed it could consider the collateral-act evidence in this case. “Although not as broad as the instructions at issue in Ex parte Billups, [ 86 So.3d 1079 (Ala.2010),] the instruction in this case regarding the permissible use of the collateral-act evidence was too general and authorized the jury to consider the evidence for ‘implausible purposes,’ such as identity. For example, I.C. identified Marks, and Marks admitted that he knew I.C.; he denied, however, that he had had sex with I.C. or that he had raped her. Thus, I.C.’s and Marks’s credibility, not Marks’s identity, were at issue. Compare Gibson v. State, 677 So.2d 238, 240 (Ala.Crim.App.1995) (identity was at issue where the accused contended that someone else committed the sexual offenses with which he was charged), with Mothershed v. State, 596 So.2d 47 (Ala.Crim.App.1991) (evidence o”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 168 So. 3d 90 - R.C.W. v. State

3. ““In Marks [v. State, 94 So.3d 409 (Ala.Crim.App.2012) ], we held: “ ‘The circuit court’s instructions in this case permitted the jury to consider the collateral-act evidence for the purposes of showing motive, opportunity, plan, knowledge, and modus op-erandi. On appeal, the State argues that opportunity and plan were at issue and that, therefore, the circuit court properly instructed the jury as to those purposes. The State also argues that the evidence was admissible to prove identity and preparation — purposes for which the jury was not instructed regarding the collateral-act evidence. The State does not address the additional purposes — motive, knowledge, or modus operandi— on which the jury was instructed it could consider the collateral-act evidence in this case. “ ‘Although not as broad as the instructions at issue in Ex parte Billups, [ 86 So.3d 1079 (Ala.2010),] the instruction in this case regarding the permissible use of the collateral-act evidence was too general and authorized the jury to consider the evidence for “implausible purposes,” such as identity. For example, I.C. identified Marks, and Marks admitted that he knew I.C.; he denied, however, that he had had sex with I.C. or that he had raped her. Thus, I.C.’s and Marks’s credibility, not Marks’s identity, were at issue. Compare Gibson v. State, 677 So.2d 238, 240 (Ala.Crim.App.1995) (identity was at issue where the accused contended that someone else committed the sexual offenses with which he was charged),”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. R.C.W. v. State