State v. West’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 3 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Under Tenn.Code Ann. § 40 — 30—112(b), when [the appellant] failed to raise the (i)(6) issue on direct appeal, he effectively blocked any consideration of this issue by this Court on post-conviction review. Additionally, under Tenn.Code Ann. § 39-2~205(c)(3) (1982) (repealed 1989), this Court was required in all cases in which the death penalty was imposed to automatically consider whether the “evidence supports the jury’s finding of a statutory aggravating circumstance or statutory aggravating circumstances .... ” Pursuant to these mandatory provisions, this Court found that the .requirements of the statute had, in fact, been met in [the appellant’s] case. Thus, we conclude that the issue under discussion has, indeed, been both “previously determined” and “waived,” under the definitions provided in Tenn.Code Ann. § 40-30-112(a) and (b).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cone v. Bell

2. “In this appeal of a post-conviction proceeding, ... the appellant[ ] raises for the first time the issue whether evidence adduced at the sentencing phase of his trial was sufficient to support the jury’s conclusion that he committed two murders for the purpose of avoiding arrest or prosecution. Although [the appellant] casts the issue as concerning the evidentiary sufficiency of the (i)(6) aggravating circumstance, we think his grievance involves instead the constitutional issue of whether the aggravating circumstance narrows the class of death eligible offenders. He says that it does not, and because it does not, he contends that it violates the Eighth Amendment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cone v. Bell