Shanklin v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Gina” (a pseudonym, as stated in note 4, infra), did not see any physical fight between Braughton Sr. and Dominguez. A photograph taken by police showed Braughton Sr. with a bloody lip. 4 . Because the witness was a minor at the time of the shooting, we use a pseudonym. 5 . Chris argues that Gina’s testimony "can only be read to say that Dominguez was facing [Chris] when the shot was fired,” but she did not expressly give such testimony. The State acknowledges that Dominguez must have turned before he was shot. No witness expressly stated that Dominguez was facing Chris when or just before he was shot. 6 . We agree with the dissent's summary of this standard as requiring us to determine whether it was “rational both for the jury to have found appellant guilty of murder, looking at the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict, and for it to have rejected the defenses of self-defense and defense of a third person.” Accordingly, we consider whether the jury could rationally have made both such findings, taking all the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution. 7 . See Tex. Penal Code § 9.31 (b)(1). 8 . See id. § 9.31(b)(4) (providing general rale and exception). 9 . She also described the path as- "almost straight across” and that the left side was "down by just a hair” or “minimally.” 10 . The dissent asserts that Gina’s testimony was "irreconcilable with the physical evidence,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Christopher Ernest Braughton v. State

2. “knew [he] couldn’t go over there and physically fight with him [because of leg problems]. So [he] felt like the only thing [he] could do is shoot in that direction and scatter everything and just calm it down so [he] could give [Willis] the chance to get away from all that.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jared Shanklin v. Rick Thaler, Director

3. “Moreover, an attorney's decision not to present particular witnesses at the punishment stage may be a strategically sound decision if the attorney bases it on a determination that the testimony of the witnesses may be harmful, rather than helpful, to the defendant.”

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