Westbrook v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The court instructs the jury that deadly force may be employed to repel a trespasser who demonstrates the apparent purpose of assaulting or offering violence to an occupant of a dwelling or committing some other crime on the premises. Therefore, if you find from the evidence in this case, that on the morning of the shooting, the deceased, Danielle Newsome, was trespassing upon the property lawfully occupied by Eboni White, and that Danielle Newsome had there demonstrated the apparent purpose of assaulting or offering violence to Eboni White on such property, then you shall find the defendant, Eboni White, not guilty.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Howell v. State · White v. State

2. “A person who uses defensive force shall be presumed to have reasonably feared imminent death or great bodily harm, or the commission of a felony upon him or another or upon his dwelling, ... if the person against whom the defensive force was used, was in the process of unlawfully and forcibly entering, or had unlawfully and forcibly entered, a dwelling, ... and the person who used defensive force knew or had reason to believe that the forcible entry or unlawful and forcible act was occurring or had occurred. This presumption shall not apply if the person against whom defensive force was used has a right to be in or is a lawful resident or owner of the dwelling, ... or if the person who uses defensive force is engaged in unlawful activity ...; A person who is not the initial aggressor and is not engaged in unlawful activity shall have no duty to retreat before using deadly force under subsection (l)(e) or (f) of this section if the person is in a place where the person has a right to be, and no finder of fact shall be permitted to consider the person’s failure to retreat as evidence that the person’s use of force was unnecessary, excessive!,] or unreasonable.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Howell v. State

3. “The Court does not single out any instruction or take instructions out of context; rather, the instructions are to be read together as a whole. A defendant is entitled to have jury instructions given which present his theory of the case. This entitlement is limited, however, in that the court is allowed to refuse an instruction which incorrectly states the law, is covered fairly elsewhere in the instructions, or is without foundation in the evidence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bradshaw v. State