State v. Hurles’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 federal appellate · 2 district · 13 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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On the afternoon of November 12, 1992, Hurles went to the Buckeye public library, a small, house-type building in a residential neighborhood. The only employee in the library at the time was Kay Blanton. The last patron, other than Hurles, left the library just before 2:40 p.m. Hurles then locked the front doors to the library and attacked Blan-ton in the back room. He stripped off her underwear and pulled her skirt, above her waist in an unsuccessful attempt to rape her. Using a paring knife found in the back room of the library, Hurles mortally wounded Blanton, stabbing her thirty-seven times and inflicting blunt force trauma by kicking her to such an extent he tore her liver.... [Hurles then fled the scene.] Between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m., Hurles rode [a borrowed] bicycle to the home of his nephew, Thomas, in Buckeye and asked Thomas for a ride to Phoenix. Hurles had changed his clothes and cleaned himself up somewhat, and Thomas, who had been asleep and was unaware of Blanton’s murder, agreed to drive Hurles to Phoenix. As the two left the house, Hurles was carrying a bundle of clothes. During the drive to Phoenix, Thomas noticed that Hurles had bite marks on his wrist. When asked about them, Hurles told Thomas he had been in a fight with a Spanish man at the library, that he had stabbed the man with the man’s knife, and that he had received the bite marks in the fight. As part of his insanity defense, however, Hurles later claimed he had no recollection of anything that occu”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hurles v. Ryan · Hurles v. Ryan

2. “A difficult family background, including childhood abuse, does not necessarily have substantial mitigating weight absent a showing that it significantly affected or impacted a defendant’s ability to perceive, to comprehend, or to control his actions. No such evidence was offered, and the trial judge did not err in concluding that Hurles’s family background was not sufficiently mitigating to require a life sentence. The judge also found that Hurles had good behavior while incarcerated prior to committing the murder. Taken either by itself or in combination with Hurles’s family background, we do not believe this sufficiently mitigates the quality of the aggravating circumstance. A life sentence would not be more appropriate.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hurles v. Ryan · Hurles v. Ryan

3. “We also disagree with Hurles’ assertions that the insanity defense vitiates the presumption of innocence or negates the state’s burden of proof. Even though criminal defendants have the burden of proving insanity under A.R.S. § 13-502(B), which may, but need not result in a strategy of admitting certain facts of the crime charged, the presumption of innocence and the state’s burden remain unchanged.”

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