State v. Whetzel’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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. “(a) The court, when sentencing a defendant convicted of a felony or misdemeanor causing physical, psychological or economic injury or loss to a victim, shall order, in addition to or in lieu of any other penalty authorized by law, that the defendant make restitution to any victim of the offense, unless the court finds restitution to be wholly or partially impractical as set forth in this article. If the court does not order restitution, or orders only partial restitution, under this section, the court shall state on the record the reasons therefor.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 201 W. Va. 271 - State v. Lucas · 233 W. Va. 354 - State of West Virginia v. Rebecca F.

2. “the clear intention of the Legislature in enacting W. Va.Code § 61-llA-4(a) was to enable trial courts to require convicted criminals to pay all losses sustained by victims in the commission of the crime giving rise to the conviction. Any other interpretation would run counter to the legislative intent that ‘all that is possible’ be done, an intent set forth in W. Va.Code § 61-11A-I(b).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Cummings · 233 W. Va. 354 - State of West Virginia v. Rebecca F.

3. “Similarly, in Hebert v. State, 600 So.2d 1293 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1992), the Florida court dealt with the question of how much restitution was payable by defendants who were charged with grand theft, but plead guilty to petit theft. Petit theft was the crime of theft of items having a value of $300.00 or less. The court subsequently required the defendants to pay restitution in the amount of $2,530.00. On appeal the defendants claimed that the trial court legally could require them to pay no more than $300.00 in restitution. The court of appeal rejected that claim. The court noted that the Florida restitution statute was a separate statute from the statute defining the criminal offense and indicated that the restitution statute, which dictated loss caused by the crime, rather than the law dictating the degree of the crime, should determine the level of restitution.”

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