170 W. Va. 654 - State v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “One of the questions to be determined by you in this case is whether or not the Defendant acted in self-defense so as to justify her acts. Under the laws of this state, if the Defendant was not the aggressor, and had reasonable grounds to believe and actually did believe that she was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm from which she could save herself only by using deadly force against her assailant, then she had the right to employ deadly force in order to defend herself. By deadly force is meant force which is likely to cause death or serious harm. You should be cautious in deciding who was the aggressor because a defendant’s role may shift from aggressor to victim during the course of an altercation because only reasonable and proportionate force may be used to repel an assault. Where a person assaulted uses disproportionate force to repel an attack, the privilege of self-defense is lost and the person so assaulted is entitled to defend themselves. In order for the Defendant to have been justified in the use of deadly force in self-defense, she must not have provoked the assault on her or have been the aggressor. Mere words, without more, do not constitute provocation or aggression. Mere provocation by words or conduct, no matter how insulting, does not destroy the privilege of self-defense, even though a reasonable woman should realize that the provocation will probably induce the attack. But if the actor actually intends her provocative words or actions t”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 214 W. Va. 562 - State v. Brooks

2. “one who is at fault or who is the physical aggressor can not rely on self-defense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 223 W. Va. 796 - State v. Harden