State v. Severns’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

70 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 72 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In prosecutions for homicide it is the duty of the trial court to instruct the jury, not only as to the offense charged but as to all lesser offenses of which the accused might be found guilty under the information and upon the evidence adduced, even though such instructions have not been requested or have been objected to." (Syl. ¶ 3.)”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Hamrick · State v. Clark

2. ““. . . It is the contention of the state that if murder is committed in the perpetration or the attempt to perpetrate any other felony, it is murder in the first degree; hence, that if the boy, John Michael Foley, met his death at the hands of defendant, while defendant was committing an assault with a deadly weapon, under such circumstances that it amounted to a felony under any statute pertaining thereto, the offense is murder in the first degree. This contention cannot be sustained. The effect of it would be to make any homicide, not excusable or justifiable, which by our statute is defined to be manslaughter in any of the degrees, or murder in the second degree, to constitute murder in the first degree. In other words, there could, under this interpretation of the statute, be no such thing as any lower degree of homicide than murder in the first degree. . . . “We have examined all of tire authorities cited in the able brief of counsel for the state as tending to support this instruction. It will not be necessary to make a detailed analysis of them. The few which tend to support the instruction are upon statutes differing from our own and are not applicable. Those holding that a murder committed in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate a distinct offense, as robbery, arson, or the like, are in keeping with our own decisions and are not opposed to the conclusion here reached. Here the act of the defendant in doing the shooting is either murder in the first degree or som”

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

3. ““The definition is subject to the criticism that it uses the word murder’ to define itself, although it seems clear that the word is used as equivalent to the word ‘homicide.’ It does make it clear that any killing committed in the perpetration or any attempt to commit certain named crimes or other felony, is murder in the first degree. Under this section it has been held that the elements of the named crime or other felony ‘must be so distinct from that of the homicide as not to be an ingredient of the homicide, convictable under an information charging the homicide as murder.’ (State v. Fisher, 120 Kan. 226 , syl., 243 Pac. 291 .) . . .” (p. 457.)”

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