Conner v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
13 federal appellate · 95 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 113 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2023 · most notably McDougall v. North Carolina (1983), Smith v. Francis (1985)
13 federal appellate · 95 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Jackson v. Virginia · Gregg v. Georgia · Furman v. Georgia · Lockett v. Ohio · Williams v. People of State of New York
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 113 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““[t]he range of discussion (during closing argument) is wide — very wide. . . . [The prosecutor’s] illustrations may be as various as are the resources of his genius; his argumentation as full and profound as his learning can make it; and he may, if he will, give play to his wit, or wing to his imagination.” [Cit.] “Counsel may bring to his use in the discussion of the case well-established historical facts and may allude to such principles of divine law relating to transactions of men as may be appropriate to the case.” [Cit.] Counsel for the [S]tate may forcibly or even extravagantly attempt to impress upon the jury “the enormity of the offense and the solemnity of their duty in relation thereto.” [Cit.]”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence““bring to his use in the discussion of the case well-established historical facts and may allude to such principles of divine law relating to transactions of men as may be appropriate to the case.” [Cit.]”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“A person ... commits the offense of [felony] murder when, in the commission of a felony, he causes the death of another human being irrespective of malice.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Prater v. State · Parks v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.