283 Ga. App. 99 - Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The rule of lenity entitles the accused to the lesser of two penalties where the same conduct would support either a felony or a misdemeanor conviction. Even though the rule of lenity may apply when the applicable misdemeanor is not a lesser included offense to the charged felony, the essential requirement of the rule of lenity is that both crimes could be proved with the same evidence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 309 Ga. App. 785 - Staib v. State

2. ““[c]ruel” and “excessive” are adjectives which inherently require a consideration of degree; the law does not set a bright line but leaves to the trier of fact, taking into account societal norms generally accepted, whether certain behavior inflicts “cruel” or “excessive” pain (in this situation, mental rather than physical pain). 9”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 314 Ga. App. 509 - Adorno v. State