State v. Castrillo’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

45 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 45 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the defendant must produce sufficient evidence that: (1) he was under an unlawful and imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury; (2) he did not recklessly place himself in a situation that would likely compel him to engage in the criminal conduct; (3) he did not have a reasonable legal alternative (in other words, he could not have reasonably avoided the threatened harm or the criminal conduct in which he engaged); and (4) a direct causal relationship existed between the criminal action and the avoidance of the threatened harm.”

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

2. “A person, operating under some psychological coercion aid faced with a panoply of choices including legal and illegal alternatives, cannot opt for the unlawful alternative if legal avenues to relief are available____ ... The obvious response to threatened violence — especially a nebulous, potential, future violence — is not to resort to possession of a weapon.”

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

3. “To warrant submission to the jury of the defense of duress, a defendant must make a prima facie showing that [she] was in fear of immediate and great bodily harm to [herself] ... and that a reasonable person in [her] position would have acted the same way under the circumstances.”

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