State v. Cook’s Empirical Analysis
1996
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 51 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 55 later decisions — most recently February 2022 · most notably State v. Holmes (2004), State v. Conley (2000)
2 federal appellate · 51 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 In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Ohio v. Roberts · Victor v. Nebraska · Mullins Coal Co. v. Director · State v. Ruebke
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 55 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The legislature, by using the phrase `in a particularly heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner,' meant that the heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner must be in a special or unusual degree, to an extent greater than in other cases.... Most of the State's arguments regarding `torture' experienced by the victim in this case are based on conjecture or speculation." 259 Kan. at 403 .”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. State v. Lessley · State v. Spry““All murders are heinous, atrocious, and cruel. Cook, 259 Kan. at 403. However, exceptional circumstances must exist before a murder can be classified as ‘especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.’ We have previously said: ‘The hard 40 sentence should be reserved for special cases . . . . Otherwise, the legislature would have mandated the hard 40 sentence in all first-degree murder cases.’ State v. Willis, 254 Kan. 119, 129 , 864 P.2d 1198 (1993). ‘A crime is committed in an especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel manner when the perpetrator inflicts serious mental anguish or serious physical abuse before the victim’s death. Mental anguish includes a victim’s uncertainty as to [his] or [her] ultimate fate.’ (Emphasis added.) 254 Kan. 119 , Syl. ¶ 4.” 266 Kan. at 531.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. State v. Lessley · State v. Spry“absent from the place of hearing because the proponent of his or her statement does not know and with diligence has been unable to ascertain his or her whereabouts.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. State v. Plunkett
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.