State v. Gingras’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If the jury had been given the full definition of deadly force, including the second sentence of RSA 627:9, II, it could well have found that, if the legislature deemed it necessary to include a specific provision dealing with the firing of a gun at another person or a vehicle in order to capture such conduct within the ambit of deadly force, then the defendant’s conduct of merely pointing his gun at [the victim] without discharging it constituted the use of non-deadly force. However, without knowing about the second sentence of RSA 627:9, II, there is a significantly greater likelihood that the jury may have determined that the defendant’s act of pointing his gun at [the victim] did constitute the use of deadly force. And if the jury made this finding, it may then have determined, in accordance with the court’s instructions, that the defendant’s use of deadly force in self-defense was not justified inasmuch as [the victim] was not armed with a weapon and had not threatened the defendant with the imminent use of deadly force. On this basis, the jury could have rejected the defendant’s claim of self-defense and found him guilty of the criminal threatening and reckless conduct offenses.”

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

2. ““Non-deadly force” means any assault or confinement which does not constitute deadly force.”

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