284 So. 2d 448 - Walker v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. ““The facts of this case show the Petitioner to be a man whose mental processes were substantially impaired at the time of the homicide, even though he may have known right from wrong. “Testimony concerning demonstrable brain damage conflicted. One physician testified that the defendant’s electroencephalogram showed abnormalities; another testified that it appeared normal but could indicate anxiety. “One physician testified that there was evidence of organic brain damage; three testified that there was no such evidence and another that such damage was possible. “One doctor testified that the defendant did not know right from wrong at the time of the crime; another testified that he did; and four others equivocated although they were all inclined to think he did know right from wrong at the time of the crime. “However, the doctors were unanimous in their judgment that the Petitioner suffered severe mental impairment at the time of the crime. They all agreed that his illness was such that extreme stress could trigger explosive and irrational behavior. All the Petitioner knew was that ‘something hit me and that was it.’ The doctors agree that because of his emotional problems, depression, inability to use his normal defensive techniques of avoidance and denial to control his impulses and ‘potentially explosive’ behavior, he was ‘under terrific emotional stress at the time’ of the crime. Emotional stress has to be avoided, because under such stress, the various doctors testified, ”

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