State v. Beebe’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 32 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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On the evening of January 1, 1987, Lawrence Leland Capps left his mother’s home in Andover to do his laundry. Mr. Capps was eighteen years old. He stopped at a friend’s apartment in Augusta and stayed there from 9:00 p.m. until after midnight. He returned to the apartment shortly after his departure, stating that he had car trouble. The friend offered to let him stay the night but the young man declined. Mr. Capps then went to a pay phone on the street below to telephone his father for a ride home. While Mr. Capps was in the telephone booth, a pickup truck stopped. The truck was owned by Billy Horton. Horton, Billy Mathis, and defendant were in the truck. Mr. Capps was offered a ride home and climbed into the back of the truck. The truck’s three original occupants were in the truck seat. On the way to Andover, the three decided to rob Mr. Capps. The truck was driven to a deserted farmhouse. Capps became alarmed and commenced hitting and kicking the rear window of the truck. At the farm the three men beat Capps and Mathis took the victim’s billfold and some change from a pocket. Defendant had a pistol which was fired several times into the air and the ground during the beating and robbery. Capps was ordered back into the rear of the truck. Initially, the three men planned to leave Capps somewhere without further harm to him. While driving from the farm, they decided that because he could identify them, they would kill him. They drove to a secluded area near the Whitewater Rive”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Beebe v. Nelson

2. ““In recent years, we have observed a growing trend toward the simplification of instructions in criminal cases and the elimination of many instructions which emphasize particular portions of the evidence. Although we do not consider the instruction on malice to, constitute reversible error herein, we discourage the giving of this type of instruction. The use of a deadly weapon is one of the evidentiary facts from which the jury could infer malice, but we conclude it is the better practice not to give a separate instruction thereon.””

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

3. ““Ordinarily a person intends all of the usual consequences of (his) (her) voluntary acts. This inference may be considered by you along with all the other evidence in the case. You may accept or reject it in determining whether the State has met its burden to prove the required criminal intent of the defendant. This burden never shifts to the defendant.””

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