State v. Greenway’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate · 5 district · 155 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 175 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Proving a taking in a robbery does not necessarily prove the motivation for a murder.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Nordstrom · State v. Medina

2. “(a) Age Defendant presented one statutory mitigating factor, A.R.S. § 13-703(G)(5), age, and numerous nonstatutory mitigating factors, The trial court concluded that defendant’s age, 19 at the time of the murders, was the only mitigating factor. We agree with the trial court, (b) Defendant’s low I.Q. Defendant argues that because he has an I.Q. of 72, he “is not only immature and learning disabled, but is genuinely mentally retarded," He also argues that “the effect of the retardation on .,. his ability to realize what he was doing has to be considered as a mitigating factor,” We do not agree. Defendant's own expert testified that defendant was borderline functional, and not mentally retarded. Moreover, the expert testified that a person with an I.Q. of 72 is fully capable of functioning in society and that defendant was capable of making judgments with limited impairment. Defendant’s former work manager testified that defendant was a responsible person, that he had been picked for promotion because he had shown an ability to supervise other people and that he handled problems without any outbreak of irrational behavior. As we stated in State v. Ceja, 126 Ariz. 35 , 40, 612 P.2d 491 , 496 (1980), ”[t]his is not the slow, dull, [retarded] individual with [a] significantly impaired mental capacity which counsel [seeks] to depict,” but rather, an individual who planned two weeks in advance to rob the victims and carried out this plan. We cannot accept defendant’s argument that, ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Greenway v. Ryan

3. “Now, after determining whether or not the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt certain aggravating factors, the Court must then turn its direction to mitigating factors, not only those mitigating factors that are set forth in A.R.S. 13-1704(g), but any other mitigating factors that have been presented to the Court. Looking at A.R.S. 13-1704(g), the Court specifically finds there is a mitigating factor, and that is the age of the Defendant, At the time of the killings the Defendant was nineteen years old, only one year into adulthood. The Court has considered all other mitigating factors, those presented at the aggravation-mitigation hearing, and also those which have been submitted to the Court in the sentencing memorandum and any other matters of record. In looking at the mitigating factor of the age of the Defendant, the Court finds that the Defendant’s actions, [and] evidence of brutality [ ] far outweigh[ ] his chronological, emotional and mental age, and the Court finds that there are no other mitigating factors sufficiently substantial to call for leniency.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Greenway v. Ryan