United States v. Akins’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 federal appellate · 2 district · 6 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[w]e hold that for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(9), a defendant pleading guilty to a misdemeanor must be informed of the dangers and disadvantages of self-representation before waiver of the right to counsel will be deemed knowing and intelligent.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Markuson · United States v. Lenihan

2. “Under the terms of the statute, then, an indictment under § 922(g)(9) cannot stand if the defendant was not represented by counsel and did not knowingly and intelligently waive the right to counsel in the predicate misdemeanor. Cf. United States v. Swanson, 947 F.2d 914, 919 (11th Cir.1991) (dismissing an indictment based on the court’s finding that restoration of the defendant’s civil rights placed him within 18 U.S.C. § 921 (a)(20)’s expungement exception). Because § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(I) is a legal definition, its application presents a question of law to be decided by the trial judge. See United States v. Bartelho, 71 F.3d 436, 440 (1st Cir.1995) (holding that the applicability of § 921(a)(20)’s expungement exception is a question of law to be decided by the judge); United States v. Flower, 29 F.3d 530, 535 (10th Cir.1994) (same).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Bethurum

3. “The purpose of the constitutional right to counsel “is to protect an accused from conviction resulting from his own ignorance of his legal and constitutional rights.” Nowhere is counsel more important than at a plea proceeding. “[A]n intelligent assessment of the relative advantages of pleading guilty is frequently impossible without the assistance of an attorney.””

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