State v. Muse’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. “(a) Presence Required. Unless excused by the court upon defendant’s motion, the defendant shall be present at the arraignment, at every stage of the trial including impaneling of the jury and the return of the verdict, and at the imposition of sentence, except as otherwise provided by this rule.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Ballard · State v. Mosley

2. “Having determined that the defendant’s statutory and constitutional rights were violated by conducting voir dire in his absence, the final issue is whether the error committed in the trial court may be considered harmless. Certain constitutional rights are so basic to a fair trial that their infraction has never been treated as harmless. A defendant’s right to be present during jury selection is such a right. Here, the defendant observed not a single prospective juror, heard not a single response to the court’s questions concerning personal and general matters, and participated in not a single peremptory challenge. The defendant had no opportunity to give advice or make suggestions to his lawyer. The Court concludes that without an effective waiver the defendant’s absence from the entire voir dire proceeding resulted in such prejudice to the judicial process that automatic reversal is required.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Ballard