State v. Deck’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

39 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'[t]rial court's rulings on objections to closing arguments are reviewed for abuse of discretion; however, when a proper objection is made, the trial courts should exclude 'statements that misrepresent the evidence or the law' or statements that 'tend to confuse 10 the jury.''”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Holmsley · State of Missouri v. Dustin Demont Brown

2. “[STATE]: The last thing I’m gonna tell you and say to you is this: I—I’ve done this job long enough, and this isn’t about me—but I’ve done this long enough that on occasion, five years after a case like this has gone— [DEFENSE]: Objection; vouching, personalization. [COURT]: Sustained. [STATE]: Often times, I’ll get a phone call later on from a family member, and they’ll say— [DEFENSE]: Objection; relevance, same objection. [COURT]: Overruled. [STATE]: And they’ll say to me, to my granddaughter, I’ve told them about my loved one that was murdered. They want—they want to know what happened. Can you explain it to them. There are 19 grandchildren. 19 great-grandchildren, and I don’t know how many more there’ll be. And some day these people are going to be told about James and Zelma Long. And they’re gonna be told about what wonderful parents they were, how they liked to fish. How their Grandmother got her masters and taught. They’re gonna be told about these wonderful people. And you know the question they’re gonna ask, is they’re gonna say well, where are they now? They’re gonna have to be told about this. And then they’re gonna ask another question, and that question I get to some—unfortunately sometimes explain is was justice done? When you go up there, you’ll tell us if justice is done. Now I’m gonna sit down and wait for your answer, so I can tell them.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Deck v. Steele

3. “In this case, it is not just the simple refusal to sign the verdict that may warrant removal. Where, as here, if a veniremember claims on the one hand that he or she could fairly consider both punishments but, at the same time, unequivocally states that he or she would not sign a verdict of death, the trial court is in the best position to consider whether the record contains sufficient evidence of equivocation creating a doubt as to whether that veniremember would be able to fairly consider both punishments. Here, the veniremembers’ responses revealed an inability to follow the court’s instructions if that person were chosen as foreman of the jury and the trial court could have concluded from the record as a whole that there was a substantial possibility that the veniremeraber may not be able to fairly consider both punishments despite their assurances to the contrary.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Deck v. Steele