Rector v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1983
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 76 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 88 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2019 · most notably Lockhart v. McCree (1986), State v. Jenkins (1984)
4 federal appellate · 76 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
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1865
Relies on Witherspoon v. Illinois · Duren v. Missouri · Greene v. Massey · Wicks v. State · Davis v. Georgia
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 88 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A second argument for reversal is that the trial judge should have found Rector incompetent to stand trial against the death penalty. A parallel question of competency was decided adversely to Rector on his earlier appeal from his conviction for the murder of Arthur Cris-well. [Citation omitted]. The proof in the two cases is quite similar, although in this case a witness for the State, Dr. Hamed, thought that Rector’s condition was much improved as compared to the time Dr. Hamed saw Rector soon after his surgery. The expert proof is in sharp conflict, as it was on the other appeal.... We must conclude, as we did on the earlier appeal, that the trial judge’s decision is not clearly erroneous.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“... Rector entered the back of the house and came into the living room. Rector and the officer knew each other and may have exchanged a few words of greeting. Within a few minutes Rector, who had not joined in the conversation, drew a pistol and shot Officer Martin twice. Rector left by the back door and said to his nephew’s wife, whom he met crossing the yard: “I just shot that cop.” A few moments later Rector attempted suicide by shooting himself in the forehead, the bullet entering the front part of his brain. That evening the wound was surgically cleaned and closed.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“a jury system that has served its purpose admirably throughout the nation’s history ought not to be twisted out of shape for the benefit of those persons least entitled to special favors. It has always been the law in Arkansas, except when the punishment is mandatory, that the same jurors who have the responsibility for determining guilt or innocence must also shoulder the burden of fixing the punishment. That is as it should be, for the two questions are necessarily interwoven.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.