Blackwell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 92 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 95 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[i]t does not confer upon them, however, untrammeled discretion to enact new law or to repeal or ignore clearly existing law as whim, fancy, compassion or malevolence should dictate, even within the limited confines of a single criminal case.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Stevenson v. State · State v. Adams

2. “(a) Designation of degree by court or jury. — If a person is found guilty of murder, the court or jury that determined the person’s guild shall state in the verdict whether the person is guilty of murder in the first degree or murder in the second degree. (b) Penalty for first degree murder. — Except as provided under subsection (g) of this section, a person found guilty of murder in the first degree shall be sentenced to death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole. The sentence shall be imprisonment for life unless: (l)(i) the State notified the person in writing at least 30 days prior to trial that it intended to seek a sentence of death, and advised the person of each aggravating circumstance upon which it intended to rely, and (ii) a sentence of death is imposed in accordance with § 413; or (2) the State notified the person in writing at least 30 days prior to trial that it intended to seek a sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole under § 412 or § 413 of this article. (c) Notice of intent to seek death penalty. — (1) If a State’s Attorney files or withdraws a notice of intent to seek a sentence of death, the State’s Attorney shall file a copy of the notice or withdrawal with the clerk of the Court of Appeals. (2) The validity of a notice of intent to seek a sentence of death that is served on a defendant in a timely manner shall in no way be affected by the State’s Attorney’s failure to file a copy ”

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

3. ““It is true, of course, that [the statute] permits elements of mitigation to be presented to the jury, i. e., proof of the defendant’s age and of the motive for the act in the context of resolving the question of the proximate cause of the victim’s death. We are unable to conclude, however, that the presentation of these two elements requires the sentencing authority to focus on the specific circumstances of the crime and the particular characteristics of the offender to the extent constitutionally required by the controlling Supreme Court decisions. That Blackwell was afforded an opportunity to present, and did present, broad circumstances of mitigation to the jury hardly suffices as the measure of the statute’s constitutionality; the jury was neither required nor permitted by the statute to weigh or objectively focus on Blackwell’s character and record before returning its verdict and causing the death sentence to be imposed upon him.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Moody