State v. Hamm’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The prisoner urges that 46-15-501 be construed to ban the use of the statute where the second offense was committed prior to the conviction on the first one. If construction of the statute is required, it must be, if at all possible, construed in favor of the defendant. The statutory definition of the term is crystal clear and needs no construction: “A ‘persistent felony offender’ is an offender who has previously been convicted of a felony and who is presently being sentenced for a second felony committed on a different occasion than the first.” (46-18-501) This definition, standing alone, would not permit the question now raised by the prisoner. It simply requires a past conviction and sentencing on a subsequent one ... But then the same statute goes on to define a previous felony conviction. It first defines a felony ... and then it defines “previous” by limitation: it isn’t previous if more than five years elapsed between the commission of the crime for which a sentence is being imposed and the previous felony conviction. The prisoner argues that he has, under this statute, a sort of “window of opportunity.” He can commit all manner of felonies between the time he commits his first felony and his conviction therefore and be immune from persistent felony designation because the five year clock doesn’t start running until after the first conviction. There is no evidence in the statute, or any place else, that the legislature intended to provide such an open season.”

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