3 Cal. 4th 1050 - People v. Payton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 federal appellate · 31 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 61 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In determining which penalty is to be imposed on[each] defendant, you shall consider all of the evidence which has been received during any part of the trial of this case, [except as you may be hereafter instructed], You shall consider, take into account and be guided by the following factors, if applicable: (a) The circumstances of the crime of which the defendant was convicted in the present proceeding and the existence of any special circumstance[s] found to be true. (b) The presence or absence of criminal activity by the defendant which involved the use or attempted use of force or violence or the expressed or implied threat to use force or violence. (c) The presence or absence of any prior felony conviction. (d) Whether or not the offense was committed while the defendant was under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance. (e) Whether or not the victim was a participant in the defendant's homicidal conduct or consented to the homicidal act. (f) Whether or not the offense was committed under circumstances which the defendant reasonably believed to be a moral justification or extenuation for his conduct. (g) Whether or not the defendant acted under extreme duress or under the substantial domination of another person. (h) Whether or not at the time of the offense the capacity of the defendant to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired as a result of mental disease or defect or the affects [s”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brown v. Payton · Payton v. Woodford

2. “evidence of the defendant's character, background, history, mental condition and physical condition.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brown v. Payton · William Charles Payton v. Jeanne Woodford, Acting Warden of California State Prison at San Quentin, William Charles Payton v. Jeanne Woodford, Acting Warden of California State Prison at San Quentin

3. “For the jury to have accepted a narrow view of factor (k) in this case would have meant disregarding all of defendant’s mitigating evidence, since the testimony of his eight penalty phase witnesses was all directed to his religious conversion and consequent behavior in prison. Indeed, it would have meant disregarding virtually the entire penalty phase, since the testimony of the prosecution’s two witnesses occupies only eleven pages of the transcript. We think it unlikely, however, as did the high court in Boyde, “that reasonable jurors would believe the court’s instructions transformed all of [Payton’s] ‘favorable testimony into a virtual charade.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Payton v. Woodford