Clark v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This court once held that erroneously giving the forcible-felony-exception instruction was fundamental error where it was “reasonably possible” that the instruction contributed to the conviction. See, e.g., Dunnaway v. State, 883 So.2d 876 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Rich v. State, 858 So.2d 1210 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003). The Florida Supreme Court later rejected the notion that the instruction always constitutes fundamental error and explained that the standard for fundamental error in an instruction relating to an affirmative defense is more stringent. Martinez v. State, 981 So.2d 449, 455-56 (Fla.2008) (clarifying that error in giving instruction is not per se fundamental error and that issue depends on whether the instruction was so flawed that it deprived the defendant of a fair trial). In cases before Martinez , this court granted petitions that raised a claim of ineffective assistance of appellate counsel based on failure to raise this issue and ordered a belated appeal so the entire record could be reviewed to determine if fundamental error occurred. Permenter v. State (Permenter I), 953 So.2d 647, 648 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007); Fair v. Crosby, 858 So.2d 1103, 1105 (Fla.4th DCA 2003) (“The fundamental nature of the error can be gleaned only from a review of the full record on appeal.”). In reviewing the issue after Martinez , this court has found that the error is not fundamental where the State did not rely on the erroneous instruction in closing argument, and the defendant was not dep”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Furney v. State