State v. Ulmer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-11(3) was adopted by the legislature in 1973 and is a near verbatim adoption of Subsection (4) of Section 3204 of the proposed Federal Criminal Code. It is appropriate, therefore, for us to look to the drafters’ Comment to the proposed federal code for insight into the meaning of our statute. The Comment to Subsection (4) merely states, “when .... a defendant is convicted of unrelated class A misdemeanors he may be consecutively sentenced into the class C felony sentence range.” Neither the code draft nor the commentary to Subsection (4) further explains or defines what the drafters meant by “substantially different criminal objective.” However, Subsection (2) of Section 3204 of the proposed Federal Criminal Code, which limits consecutive sentences for multiple offenses, together with the Comment to Subsection (2) provide useful insight into the drafters’ intended meaning of the phrase “substantially different criminal objective” under Subsection (4) of the federal draft. Subsection (2) states: (2) Multiple Sentences. A defendant may not be sentenced consecutively for more than one offense to the extent: (a) one offense is an included offense of the other; (b) one offense consists only of a conspiracy, attempt, solicitation or other form of preparation to commit, or facilitation of, the other; or (c) the offenses differ only in that one is defined to prohibit a designated kind of conduct generally and the other to prohibit a specific instance of such conduc”

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

2. “Generally, the same act or transaction may constitute two distinct offenses and justify conviction on both and separate sentences to run consecutively if each offense requires the proof of some fact or element not required to establish the other. This general rule is also in harmony with our interpretation and application of N.D.C.C. § 12.1-32-11(3). Under the statute, as under the general rule of law, the trial court can impose consecutive sentences for multiple offenses when each requires proof of a different element or fact.”

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

3. “When sentenced only for misdemeanors, a defendant may not be consecutively sentenced to more than one year, except that a defendant being sentenced for two or more class A misdemeanors may be subject to an aggregate maximum not exceeding that authorized by section 12.1-32-01 for a class C felony if each class A misdemeanor was committed as part of a different course of conduct or each involved a substantially different criminal objective.”

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