State v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he defendant’s trial counsel did not object to the erroneous instructions given by the trial court. Thus, the defendant ordinarily is precluded from raising such an alleged error for appellate review. LSA-C.Cr.P. arts. 801 and 841. Nevertheless, exceptions to this rule have been made in individual cases where there have been fundamentally erroneous misstatements of the essential elements of the charged offense. In such cases, the Louisiana Supreme Court has adopted the view that such fundamentally incorrect jury instructions so affect the fairness of the proceedings and the accuracy of the fact-finding process that due process of law requires reversal, even in the absence of compliance with legislative procedural mandates. See State v. Williamson, 389 So.2d 1328, 1331 (La.1980); State v. Johnson, 98-1407, p. 10 (La.App. 1st Cir. 4/1/99), 734 So.2d 800, 807 , writ denied, 99-1386 (La.10/1/99), 748 So.2d 439 . Whether an appellate court can continue to make a State v. Williamson analysis and review such a matter on direct appeal is now in doubt, in light of the supreme court’s statement in State v. Hongo: [T]he instant error is not structural, it necessarily is not of such significance as to violate fundamental requirements of due |1sprocess, See State v. Williamson, 389 So.2d 1328 (La.1980), and thus a defendant must make a contemporaneous objection in order to preserve the error for direct review. State v. Thomas, 427 So.2d 428, 435 (La.1982) (on rehearing) (limiting Willi”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 110 So. 3d 1271 - State v. Law

2. “In Howard , the supreme court explained: As an initial matter, defendant’s trial counsel did not object to the instruction at trial, and thereby waived any claim based on it. La.C.Cr.P. art. 841; [Slate v.] Taylor , [93-2201 (La.2/28/96) ], 669 So.2d [364] at 367-69; [State v.] Harris, 383 So.2d [1 (La.1980) ] at 10-11. Although Louisiana courts have sometimes waived the contemporaneous objection rule, see State v. Williamson, 389 So.2d 1328, 1331 (La.1980) (an error involving “the |17very definition of the crime of which defendant was in fact convicted ... is of such importance and significance as to violate fundamental requirements of due process”), this Court has also on two occasions explicitly cautioned that Williamson did not establish jurisprudentially the equivalent of a “plain error” rule created by F.R.Crim.P. 52(b). State v. Arvie, 505 So.2d 44, 48 (La.1987); State v. Thomas, 427 So.2d 428, 435 (La.1982) (on rehearing) (Williamson “should not be construed as authorizing appellate review of every alleged constitutional violation and erroneous jury instruction urged on appeal without timely objection at occurrence.”); see also Belgard, 410 So.2d 720, 727 (La.1982) (to preserve issue of erroneous instruction on elements of attempted second degree murder, defendant must have objected to the charge at trial). At any rate, defendant’s claim fails on the merits.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 110 So. 3d 1271 - State v. Law

3. “It is apparent that if the term “any person” had been left in the statute, then the statute would apply to the present case. However, it is our opinion that the legislature’s decision to substitute the term “general public” represents an apparent attempt to limit the application of the statute. Thus, this statute does not apply to the current factual scenario. Hay testified that he had concerns regarding Defendant’s neighbors, but the evidence does not demonstrate that Defendant’s threats were intended to place his neighbors in sustained fear, or to cause an evacuation, or disruption, in his neighborhood. Although police did conduct an evacuation, it was not initiated until police learned of the Harrell shooting.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 9 So. 3d 336 - State v. Jason