11 So. 3d 866 - Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 26 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Normally there is no direct evidence of intent. ‘ “ ‘Intent, we know, being a state or condition of the mind, is rarely, if ever, susceptible of direct or positive proof, and must usually be inferred from the facts testified to by witnesses and the circumstances as developed by the evidence.’” Ex parte C.G., 841 So.2d 292, 301 (Ala.2002), quoting Pumphrey v. State, 156 Ala. 103, 106 , 47 So. 156, 157 (1908).’ ””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Murphy v. State · Peak v. State

2. “' 718 So. 2d at 1157. There was no error in allowing the State to death qualify the prospective jurors.'”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stanley v. State · Russell v. State

3. ““ ‘Contrary to Perkins’s contention, it is well settled in Alabama that “[a] capital defendant is not automatically entitled to a mercy instruction.” Boyd v. State, 715 So.2d 825, 846 (Ala. Cr.App.1997), aff'd, 715 So.2d 852 (Ala.), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 968 , 119 S.Ct. 416 , 142 L.Ed.2d 338 (1998). See also, Taylor v. State, 666 So.2d 36 (Ala.Cr.App.1994), aff'd, 666 So.2d 73 (Ala.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1120 , 116 S.Ct. 928 , 133 L.Ed.2d 856 (1996); Rieber v. State, 663 So.2d 985 (Ala.Cr.App.1994) aff'd, 663 So.2d 999 (Ala.), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 995 , 116 S.Ct. 531 , 133 L.Ed.2d 437 (1995). In Kuenzel v. State, 577 So.2d 474, 495 (Ala.Cr.App.1990), aff'd, 577 So.2d 531 (Ala.), cert. denied, 502 U.S. 886 , 112 S.Ct. 242 , 116 L.Ed.2d 197 (1991), this court stated that “[t]he Alabama provisions for the imposition of capital punishment nowhere mention mercy.” Here, the trial court instructed the jury that its verdict should be based only on the evidence presented and the law as instructed by the court. The jury was instructed that it “must avoid any influence of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor.” (R. 3007-08.) In California v. Brown, 479 U.S. 538, 539 , 107 S.Ct. 837, 838 , 93 L.Ed.2d 934 (1987), the United States Supreme Court held that “an instruction informing jurors that they ‘must not be swayed by mere sentiment, conjecture, sympathy, passion, prejudice, public opinion or public feeling1 during the penalty phase of a capital murder trial [does no”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Reynolds v. State