Blue v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 13 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “maximum” is not the maximum sentence that may be imposed after a jury finding of additional punish- ment facts, but the maximum that may be imposed without any additional jury findings. The maximum sentence that may be imposed upon a Texas capital defendant [by the time the jury reaches the mitigation special issue] alone is life imprisonment. In order to receive death, his sentencing jury must also return a [”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Perry v. State

2. “The [Supreme] Court ... has upheld the constitutionality of aggravating factors ranging from whether the defendant was a ‘cold-blooded, pitiless slayer,’ to whether the ‘perpetrator inflict[ed] mental anguish or physical abuse before the victim’s death,’ to whether the defendant ‘would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Coble v. State