State v. Cobbins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Where a conviction of a greater offense has been overturned for insufficiency of the evidence, the reviewing court may enter a conviction for a lesser offense if the evidence was sufficient for the jury to find each of the elements and the jury was required to find those elements to enter the ill-fated conviction on the greater offense.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Collins · State v. Dixon

2. ““[Substantial risk of death” suggests seriousness in an urgent medical sense: circumstances which give rise to apprehension of life-threatening circumstances. The question is whether the injuries inflicted in the assault, viewed objectively, raise a legitimate concern either that the victim could die or could suffer more than a momentary loss of bodily function. “[S]erious disfigurement” suggests seriousness in a more aesthetic sense. “Disfigurement” means to deface or mar the appearance or beauty of someone. Injuries suffered by assault victims will differ and therefore whether a victim suffers serious disfigurement is dependent upon the evidence of a particular case. Visibility of scarring, particularly on the face, size of scars, and the presence of additional injuries are all factors in determining disfigurement. “Serious disfigurement” does not require permanent disfigurement. “[P]rotracted loss or impairment of the function of any part of the body” suggests a relatively minor physical injury — there is no minimum degree of trauma — that bothers a victim for a long time. The concern is not the degree of injury, but the temporal aspect. A “protracted” loss or impairment is something short of permanent, but more than a short duration. Whether an injury is sufficiently protracted depends on the circumstances of each case.”

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

3. “[defendant never threatened Victim with physical injury. Victim testified that Defendant was not armed and did not even touch her when he removed her wallet from her purse. Although Defendant did pull Victim’s glasses off her face, such physical contact is less significant than the defendant’s actions in Smith and there is no evidence that his actions caused any type of serious disfigurement or protracted impairment, of any part of her body. Furthermore, Victim exited the car without a struggle.”

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