Brimmer v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Jurors interpret the instructions in a common sense manner and in light of the evidence presented at the trial. The defense assertion ignores the reality that these jurors had heard specific evidence during the sentencing hearing about the defendant’s childhood, his immaturity, alleged sexual abuse, drug abuse, mental illness and emotional disturbance, as well as the dominance by Tina Brown. By their breadth, the instructions on non-statutory mitigating circumstances encompassed all the evidence presented by the defense at the sentencing hearing .... [T]he defendant’s claim of error is without merit.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Reid