154 N.C. App. 553 - State v. Andrews’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “You may find the defendant guilty of first degree murder either on the basis of malice, premeditation and deliberation, or under the first degree felony murder rule, or both. First degree murder on the basis of malice, premeditation and deliberation is the intentional and unlawful killing of a human being with malice and with premeditation and deliberation. First degree murder under the first degree felony murder rule is the killing of a human being in the perpetration of or attempt to perpetrate assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Members of the jury, if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the alleged date the defendant intentionally assaulted the victim with a deadly weapon and in flicted serious injury, and that while committing or attempting to commit assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury the defendant killed the victim, and that the defendant’s act was a proximate cause of the victim’s death, and that the defendant committed or attempted to commit assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury with the use of a deadly weapon, then it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of first degree murder under the felony murder rule.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 197 N.C. App. 543 - State v. Goode

2. “(1) lack of provocation on the part of the deceased, (2) the conduct and statements of the defendant before and after the killing, (3) threats and declarations of the defendant before and during the occurrence giving rise to the death of the deceased, (4) ill-will or previous difficulty between the parties, (5) the dealing of lethal blows after the deceased has been felled and rendered helpless, (6) evidence that the killing was done in a brutal manner, and (7) the nature and number of the victim’s wounds.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 168 N.C. App. 614 - State v. Forrest

3. “[p]remeditation is present where the defendant formed a specific intent to kill the victim some period of time, no matter how short, prior to perpetrating the actual act. . . . Deliberation is acting in a cool state of blood and not under the influence of a violent passion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 171 N.C. App. 504 - State v. Dennison