Yates v. Aiken’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate ·

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. “the jury could have mistakenly inferred from the confusing instructions that the intent required in order to prove murder was that of Yates because he carried a gun. The unconstitutional instruction which allowed the jury to presume intent . . . would have eclipsed Yates' defense of withdrawal, and prejudiced his right to a fair trial.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yates v. Evatt

2. “where two persons combine to commit an unlawful act, and in execution of the criminal act, a homicide is committed by one of the actors as a probable or natural consequence of those acts [sic], all present participating in the unlawful act are as guilty as the one who committed the fatal act.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yates v. Evatt

3. “two erroneous charges regarding implied malice. First, the trial judge charged the 'willful, deliberate, and intentional doing of an unlawful act without any just cause or excuse' [implied malice]. Second, he charged: 'malice is implied or presumed from the use of a deadly weapon'. . . .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Yates v. Evatt