State v. . Prince’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““However, there may be found in the opinions of the Court statements which if lifted from the context may support the charge as given, but when such statements are considered contextually the rule as generally stated requires that if there be evidence sufficient for the consideration of the jury, of which the court shall be the judge, the intensity of such evidence must be ‘simply to the satisfaction of the jury,’ of which the jury alone is the judge.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Matthews · State v. Fowler

2. ““When an intentional killing has been admitted or established, the law presumes malice from the use of a deadly weapon, and the defendant is guilty of murder in the second degree unless he can satisfy the jury of the truth of the facts which justify his act, or mitigate it to manslaughter. The burden is on the defendant to establish such facts to the satisfaction of the jury, unless they arise out of the evidence against him. However, to meet this burden the defendant is not required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the facts he relies on in mitigation, justification or excuse. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt requires the highest intensity of proof known to our law. Our Supreme Court has this to say. ‘To satisfy the jury beyond a reasonable doubt’ means that the jury must be fully satisfied, or entirely convinced, or satisfied to a moral certainty of the truth of the charge. But the defendant does not meet the requirements of the law when he satisfies the jury merely by the greater weight of the evidence of the truth of the facts he relies on in mitigation, justification or excuse. By the greater weight of the evidence is meant simply evidence that is of greater or superior weight, or evidence that is more convincing, or evidence that carries greater assurance than that which is offered in opposition thereto.” “Our Supreme Court has said that the phrase ‘to the satisfaction of the jury’ is considered to bear a stronger intensity of proof than that of by the greater weight o”

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

3. ““(B)ut the defendant does not meet the requirement of the law when she satisfied you members of the jury merely by the greater weight of the truth of facts she relies on in mitigation, justification or excuse ... So the Court charges you that for a person to prove to the satisfaction of you members of the jury, that that is a degree of proof which might be said to be in between the proof beyond a reasonable doubt and proof by the greater weight of the evidence. So to prove a fact or facts to the satisfaction of you members of the jury requires a higher degree of proof and signifies something more than a belief founded upon the greater weight of the evidence, but it does not require as high a degree or as strong an intensity of proof as proof beyond a reasonable doubt.””

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