Cummings v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 1 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A review of the record reveals that appellate counsel did not raise the issue of ineffective assistance of trial counsel as fully as [Cummings] argues he should have. Accordingly, [Cummings] has made the threshold showing that counsel committed the act which gave rise to the ineffective assistance allegation. Having found such, we must now determine whether counsel’s failure to raise these issues on direct appeal constitutes deficient performance. However, [Cummings] has not shown that appellate counsel’s failure to do so was unreasonable under prevailing professional norms. While appellate counsel has a duty to raise relevant issues for this Court’s consideration, there is no obligation to raise all available non-frivolous issues, (citation omitted). The brief filed in [Cummings’] direct appeal reflects that appellate counsel raised sixteen non-frivolous claims at least equally meritorious to those which were omitted and are at issue here. We cannot find that appellate counsel’s failure to investigate and litigate the ineffective assistance of trial counsel issue as fully as [Cummings] claims he should have rendered counsel’s performance unreasonable under prevailing professional norms. Accordingly, because [Cummings] has not established that appellate counsel’s performance was deficient, his substantive claims remain procedurally barred.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Cummings v. Sirmons

2. “[T]he threshold inquiry is (1) whether appellate counsel actually committed the act which gave rise to the ineffective assistance allegation.... [T]he next question is (2) whether such performance was deficient under the first prong of the two-pronged test in Strickland v. Washington, (footnote omitted). If a petitioner meets his or her heavy burden to prove deficient attorney performance, we may then consider the mishandled substantive claim. The question then becomes (3) whether such a claim meets the second prerequisite to capital post-conviction review.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Cummings v. Sirmons

3. “Under [Oklahoma’s] Post-Conviction Procedure Act, a claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel is not procedurally barred if: it is a claim contained in an original timely application for post-conviction relief relating to ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and the Court of Criminal Appeals first finds that if the allegations in the application were true, the performance of appellate counsel constitutes the denial of reasonably competent assistance of appellate counsel under prevailing professional norms.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Cummings v. Sirmons