State v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
35 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 36 later decisions — most recently December 2011 · most notably Commonwealth v. Kostka (1976), Hinkle v. State (1980)
35 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Cupp v. Naughten · Leland v. Oregon · Wardius v. Oregon · Cole v. United States · Davis v. United States
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 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]f the defendant’s sanity is drawn in issue and substantial evidence appears in the record raising a fact question under the M’Naghten test — regardless of the source of that evidence — then the burden devolves upon the State to prove the defendant’s sanity beyond a reasonable doubt by all the evidence in the case including the presumption of sanity. As stated conversely in the Davis case regarding the jury’s duty, “If the whole evidence, including that supplied by the presumption of sanity, does not exclude beyond reasonable doubt the hypothesis of insanity, of which some proof is adduced, the accused is entitled to an acquittal of the specific offense charged.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. State v. Hickman · State v. Lass“[T]he State must not only establish the elements of the crime but, when the defendant's capacity to commit the crime at all is drawn into question and substantial evidence appears in the record raising a fact issue under the M'Naghten test, the State must also establish the defendant's sanity.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. State v. James · State v. Aumann““ * * * We prefer to decide cases on nonconstitutional grounds when possible. City of Des Moines v. Lohner, 168 N.W.2d 779, 782 (Iowa) (‘We do not consider constitutional questions unless it is necessary for the disposition of the case.’); 16 Am.Jur.2d Constitutional Law § 113 at 301; 16 C.J.S. Constitutional Law § 94 at 317 (‘The principle that necessity of determination is a condition to judicial consideration of constitutional questions also finds application in the rule that such questions will not be passed on where the issues involved in the particular case may be decided on another ground, even though the constitutional issue has been properly presented.’) * * *.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.