People v. Williams’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Defendant relies on White in asserting that the use of excessive force at any point during an encounter invalidates a violation of section 148(a)(1). White , however, discussed only the requirement that a jury be instructed that the use of excessive force during an arrest invalidates that arrest. White did not address whether a defendant may be convicted of violating section 148(a)(1) if he or she obstructs, delays, or resists an officer who is lawfully performing his or her duties, and the officer subsequently uses excessive force in arresting the defendant for the completed section 148(a)(1) violation. .... Although the defendant in White engaged in conduct that could have been the basis for a section 148(a)(1) conviction prior to the officer's use of excessive force, the court did not consider whether the defendant's conviction could have been based on the pre-arrest conduct. Thus, that case is of little assistance to resolving the question presented here, where the jury's question indicated it found a completed violation of section 148(a)(1) prior to the officers' use of excessive force." The instructional error in White was the trial court's complete failure to instruct the jury that an officer is not engaged in the performance of his or her duties if he or she makes an arrest with excessive force. The White court did not consider whether the defendant could have been convicted of violating section 148(a)(1) if the jury found that a completed violation preceded any use o”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 388 F. Supp. 3d 1158 - Flynn v. City of Santa Clara

2. “In explaining why the officers' use of deadly force required a separate analysis from the claim of excessive force, the Yount court acknowledged that " 'two isolated factual contexts' " could exist within " 'one continuous chain of events.' " The court indicated that in such a case, it would be appropriate to examine the timing of an officer's excessive force in determining whether a claim was barred by Heck . " 'For example, a defendant might resist a lawful arrest, to which the arresting officers might respond with excessive force to subdue him. The subsequent use of excessive force would not negate the lawfulness of the initial arrest attempt, or negate the unlawfulness of the criminal defendant's attempt to resist it.' "”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 388 F. Supp. 3d 1158 - Flynn v. City of Santa Clara

3. “the rule proposed by defendant "could lead to absurd results." A defendant who has resisted, obstructed, or delayed an officer who is lawfully performing his or her duties would have an inducement to escalate his or her conduct in hopes that an officer will respond excessively and thereby render the arrest unlawful. Logically, the use of excessive force after a defendant's completed section 148(a)(1) offense should not provide a basis for finding the defendant did not violate section 148(a)(1).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 388 F. Supp. 3d 1158 - Flynn v. City of Santa Clara