974 So. 2d 157 - State v. Williams’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. “Relevant evidence is evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence. La. C.E. art. 403 states that “although relevant, evidence may be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, confusion of the issues, or misleading the jury, or by considerations of undue delay, or waste of time.” The trial judge determines whether evidence is relevant by deciding whether it bears a rational connection to the fact which is at issue in the case. Likewise, the trial court’s determination that evidence is more probative than prejudicial is entitled to great weight, and that determination will not be overturned on appeal in the absence of a clear abuse of discretion. (Citations omitted.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 69 So. 3d 566 - State v. Lindsey

2. “The use of expert testimony to identify spent cartridge cases or bullets to a particular firearm has a long history in Louisiana and elsewhere and has been the subject of Daubert [ v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 , 113 S.Ct. 2786 , 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993) ] challenges in other jurisdictions. See, e.g., U.S. v. Diaz, 2007 WL 485967 (N.D.Cal. 2007) ("No reported decision has ever excluded firearms-identification expert testimony under Daubert."); U.S. v. Monteiro, 407 F.Supp.2d 351 (D.Mass. 2006) (collecting cases). The Monteiro case discusses the available literature and evidence regarding the error rate in firearms examination and identification and observes that the extant information about examiner error is limited in its usefulness by the methodology of the studies so far conducted on that topic.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 243 So. 3d 151 - State v. Magee

3. “No reported decision has ever excluded firearms-identification expert testimony under Daubert.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 243 So. 3d 151 - State v. Magee