Adams v. Aiken’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 federal appellate · 2 district · 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 44 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a reasonable juror could have interpreted the instruction to allow a finding of guilt based on a degree of proof below that required by the Due Process Clause.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Melvin Tyler v. Burl Cain Warden · James Richard Miller v. United States

2. “Circumstantial evidence is good evidence provided it meets the tests laid down by the law. The State can rely on circumstantial evidence and must prove the circumstance relied on beyond a reasonable doubt. The circumstances must be consistent with one another, and they must point conclusively to the guilt of the accused, to the exclusion of every other reasonable hypothesis. In other words, in the consideration of circumstantial evidence the jury must seek some reasonable explanation thereof other than the guilt of the accused. And if such reasonable explanation can be found, you cannot convict on such evidence. I charge you further that the mere fact that the circumstances are strongly suspicious and the defendant’s guilt probable is not sufficient to sustain a conviction only on the basis of circumstantial evidence, because the proof offered by the State must exclude every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt and must satisfy the jury beyond a reasonable doubt. As I think I’ve indicated to you reasonable — what reasonable doubt means: I would tell you that the two phrases reasonable doubt and proof to a moral certainty are synonymous and the legal equivalent of each other. These phrases connote, however, a degree of proof distinguished from an absolute certainty. The reasonable doubt that the law gives the accused is not a weak or a slight doubt, but a serious or strong and well-founded doubt as to the truth of the charge. I charge you further that suspicion, however ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Adams v. Aiken

3. “whether his decision was made with the full understanding that he need say nothing and that he might then consult with a lawyer if he so desired.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. Cowan