11 canonical passages across 9 cases, quoted by 439 opinions in total. These passages cluster together because the same opinions keep quoting them side by side — they state parts of one doctrine. The anchor passage is from State v. Miller.
| # | Case | Flag | Canonical passage | Citers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | State v. Miller Anchor | green | “to trigger application of the 'plain error' doctrine, there must be (1) an error; (2) that is plain; (3) that affects substantial rights; and (4) seriously affects the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of the judicial proceedings.” | 149 |
| 2 | State v. Rodoussakis | green | “a trial court's evidentiary rulings, as well as its application of the rules of evidence, are subject to review under an abuse of discretion standard.” | 105 |
| 3 | State v. Huffman | green | “the action of a trial court in admitting or excluding evidence in the exercise of its discretion will not be disturbed by the appellate court unless it appears that such action amounts to an abuse of discretion.” | 56 |
| 4 | State v. Smith | green | “where the record of a criminal trial shows that the cumulative effect of numerous errors committed during the trial prevented the defendant from receiving a fair trial, his conviction should be set aside, even though any one of such errors standing alone would be harmless error.” | 37 |
| 5 | Helmick v. Potomac Edison Co. | green | “the admissibility of testimony by an expert witness is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court, and the trial court's decision will not be reversed unless it is clearly wrong.” | 37 |
| 6 | State v. Boggs | green | “the discretion of the trial court in ruling on the propriety of argument by counsel before the jury will not be interfered with by the appellate court, unless it appears that the rights of the complaining party have been prejudiced, or that manifest injustice resulted therefrom.” | 19 |
| 7 | State v. Miller | green | “the 'plain error' doctrine grants appellate courts, in the interest of justice, the authority to notice error to which no objection has been made.” | 16 |
| 8 | State v. Turner | green | “it will be presumed that a trial court acted correctly in giving or in refusing to give instructions to the jury, unless it appears from the record in the case that the instructions were prejudicially erroneous or that the instructions refused were correct and should have been g…” | 5 |
| 9 | State v. Graham | green | “a judgment of conviction will not be set aside because of improper remarks made by a prosecuting attorney to a jury which do not clearly prejudice the accused or result in manifest injustice.” | 3 |
| 10 | State of West Virginia v. Marcus Patrele McKinley | green | “in order to invoke the cumulative error doctrine, there must be more than one harmless error. mr. mckinley cannot rely on this doctrine because only one harmless error was found in this case.” | 2 |
A red or yellow flag on a member means the underlying case has negative treatment — for those, check the case page before relying on the passage.