175 W. Va. 663 - State v. Wallace’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The test of determining whether a particular offense is a lesser included offense is that the lesser offense must be such that it is impossible to commit the greater offense without first having committed the lesser offense. An offense is not a lesser included offense if it requires the inclusion of an element not required in the greater offense.”

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

2. “[t]his argument ignores the generally recognized origin of the concept of lesser included offenses which is that it was originally developed to aid the prosecution as summarized in Beck v. Alabama, 447 U.S. 625, 633 , 100 S.Ct. 2382, 2387-88 , 65 L.Ed.2d 392, 400 (1980).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 34 Va. App. 155 - Craig v. Commonwealth

3. “Where there is no evidentiary dispute or insufficiency on the elements of the greater offense which are different from the elements of the lesser included offense, then the defendant is not entitled to a lesser included offense instruction.”

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