169 W. Va. 271 - State v. Hinkle’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A trial court may find, as a matter of law, that a defendant was entrapped, if the evidence establishes, to such an extent that the minds of reasonable men could not differ, that the officer or agent conceived the plan and procured or directed its execution in such an unconscionable way that he could only be said to have created a crime for the purpose of making an arrest and obtaining a conviction.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 189 W. Va. 778 - State v. Nelson · 175 W. Va. 685 - State v. Taylor

2. “Where a person has no previous intent or purpose to violate the law, but is induced or persuaded by law enforcement officers or their agents to commit a crime, he is a victim of entrapment, and the law as a matter of policy forbids his conviction in such a case. On the other hand, where a person already has the readiness and willingness to break the law, the mere fact that government agents provided what appears to be a favorable opportunity is not entrapment. For example, when the government suspects that a person is engaged in illicit sale of narcotics, it is not entrapment for a government agent to pretend to be someone else and to offer, either directly or through an informer or other deo-cy [sic], to purchase narcotics from the suspected person. If, then, the jury should find beyond a reasonable doubt from the evidence in the case that, before anything at all occurred respecting the alleged offense involved in this case, the defendant was ready and willing to commit crimes such as are charged in the indictment, whenever opportunity was afforded, and that government officers or their agents did no more than offer the opportunity, then the jury should find that the defendant is not a victim of entrapment. On the other hand, if the evidence in the case should leave you with a reasonable doubt whether the defendant had the previous intent or purpose to commit an offense of the character charged, apart from the inducement or persuasion of some officer or agent of the governme”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 175 W. Va. 685 - State v. Taylor

3. “The ‘objective’ test ... prohibits conviction of a defendant, as a matter of law, when the evidence overwhelmingly shows unconscionable government conduct inducing the crime. This ‘objective’ approach is decided by the Court and makes a directed verdict appropriate. The ‘subjective’ test analyzes a defendant’s predisposition to commit a crime and presents a jury question. The government must pass the objective test before the subjective test will be used.”

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