Skinner v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Skinner's sentence of life imprisonment complies with the applicable habitual-offender statute, section 99-19-83. "Our supreme court has consistently held that sentences under the habitual-offender statute do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment." Cummings [ v. State ], 29 So.3d [859,] 861 (¶ 5) [ (Miss. Ct. App. 2010) ]. The circuit court's order amending Skinner's indictment to charge him as a habitual offender under section 99-19-83 listed Skinner's prior convictions of possession of a controlled substance, attempted carjacking with a firearm, and aggravated assault with a firearm. In light of the gravity of Skinner's current offense and his prior offenses, the circuit court's imposition of a life sentence fails to give rise to an Eighth Amendment proportionality analysis. Therefore, this Court will not proceed with such an analysis. Since the record reflects no gross disproportionality in the sentence, and the sentence falls within the statutory-maximum period, we find no abuse of discretion in the sentence imposed by the circuit court. See Cummings v. State , 58 So.3d 715 , 719 (¶ 19) (Miss. Ct. App. 2011) ("This Court reviews the terms of a sentence under an abuse-of-discretion standard.").”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. James Christopher Skinner v. State of Mississippi

2. “(1) Rankin County, Mississippi cause number 18714-conviction of possession of a controlled substance and sentence of eight years in the custody of the MDOC, with four years suspended and four years to serve, followed by four years' post-release supervision; (2) Escambia County, Florida case number 94-5154CFA4M-01-conviction of Count I, attempted carjacking with a firearm, and sentence of four years in the custody of the FDOC, followed by two years of supervised probation; and (3) Escambia County, Florida case number 94-5154CFA4M-01-conviction of Count II, aggravated assault with a firearm, and sentence of four years in the custody of the FDOC, to run concurrently with the sentence in Count I, followed by one year of supervised probation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. James Christopher Skinner v. State of Mississippi

3. “Our supreme court has consistently held that sentences under the habitual-offender statute do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. James Christopher Skinner v. State of Mississippi