Martinez v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 111 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 113 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “the degree of misconduct, if any, was relatively mild in the present case. The prosecutor's comment that the victims and their families cry out for the death penalty appears to be intended as a plea for law enforcement. The jury was in a position to know that victims who are dead cannot presently cry out for the death penalty, and that, given the facts surrounding their deaths, no such cries were made before they died. Nor would the jurors be surprised to hear that the victims' families would be upset with appellant or that they would want retribution. And the prosecutor did not attempt, through this argument, to convey any specific facts about the effect of the victims' deaths upon their families. Instead, the prosecutor was pleading with the jury to give the death penalty because the record before the jury showed that the defendant deserved it. To the extent that the prosecutor conveyed facts outside the record, such facts had no tendency to adversely influence the jury against appellant beyond the influence exerted by a wholly legitimate plea for law enforcement.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Zunker v. State · Klock v. State

2. “PROSECUTOR: And based on this evidence, this — this rates as one of the worst crimes, one of the worst killings not only in Brazoria County but the State of Texas. DEFENSE COUNSEL: Objection, your honor. That’s not in the record. THE COURT: Stay in the record, counsel. PROSECUTOR: The evidence shows you, these were execution killings. 26 to 28 bullets. The family of the murdered victims, the family — the victims themselves, they cry out to you, for the death penalty in this case. There’s no more— DEFENSE COUNSEL: Objection, your Honor. Not in the record, either. Absolutely no evidence of that. THE COURT: Overruled. PROSECUTOR: Justice in this case requires you, because we told you from day-one, what we wanted was a fair jury, a jury that would do justice in this ease.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Zunker v. State · Klock v. State

3. “[a] statement of the declarant’s then existing state of mind, emotion, sensation, or physical condition (such as intent, plan, motive, design, mental feeling, pain, or bodily health), but not including a statement of memory or belief to prove the fact remembered or believed unless it relates to the execution, revocation, identification, or terms of declar-ant’s will.”

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