987 So. 2d 420 - Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[i]t has been for some time the established rule in this state that where the defendant or the defendant’s witnesses are the only eyewitnesses to the homicide, their version, if reasonable, must be accepted as true, unless substantially contradicted in material particulars by a credible witness or witnesses for the state, or by the physical facts or by the facts of common knowledge.”

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. David W. Parvin v. State of Mississippi · Boleyn v. State

2. “Weathersby is nothing more than a particularized version of our general standards according to which courts must decide whether in a criminal prosecution the accused is entitled to a judgment of acquittal as a matter of law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 269 So. 3d 1280 - Timothy Owens v. State of Mississippi

3. “[T]he rule is used as a guide for whether a judge should grant a directed verdict, and a defendant who meets the Weathersby standard is entitled to a directed verdict of acquittal.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 248 So. 3d 942 - Christopher Lee Thompson v. State of Mississippi