Brownlee v. Haley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

45 federal appellate · 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 91 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “As the Supreme Court explained, mental retardation is generally defined as having an IQ below 70, see id. at 308 n. 5, 122 S.Ct. at 2245 n. 5, accompanied by “significant limitations in adaptive skills such as communication, self-care, and self-direction that become manifest before age 18,” id. at 317, 122 S.Ct. at 2250. An individual who is mentally retarded has a “diminished capacity] to understand and process information, to communicate, to abstract from mistakes and learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, to control impulses, and to understand the reactions of others.” Id. (footnote omitted). In Atkins, the Supreme Court said that even though the deficiencies faced by mentally retarded individuals “do not warrant an exemption from criminal sanctions, ... they do diminish their personal culpability.” Id. at 317-20, 122 S.Ct. at 2250-51. As a result, the Court held that “the mentally retarded should be categorically excluded from execution” because they are less deserving of society’s ultimate retribution and less susceptible to the deterrent effects of the death penalty. Id. at 318-20, 122 S.Ct. at 2251. The Court also noted that, for a variety of reasons, “[m]entally retarded defendants in the aggregate face a special risk of wrongful execution.” Id. at 321, 122 S.Ct. at 2252. Thus, under Atkins, a mentally retarded individual cannot be executed even if a jury has found multiple aggravating circumstances to exist.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 776 F. Supp. 2d 1323 - Jones v. McNeil · 465 F. Supp. 2d 1211 - Wood v. Allen

2. “This requires a showing of more than “some conceivable effect on the outcome of the proceeding.” Instead, the petitioner “must show that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome.” Our confidence is undermined if the petitioner can “show that there is a reasonable probability that ... the result of the proceeding would have been different” if counsel had not committed “unprofessional errors.” Significantly, although a petitioner must show that counsel’s errors had more than “some conceivable effect on the outcome of the proceeding,” the Supreme Court has said that a petitioner is not required to show that “counsel’s deficient conduct more likely than not altered the outcome in the case.” Rather, as the Supreme Court has held, “the ultimate focus of inquiry must be on the fundamental fairness of the proceeding whose result is being challenged.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hall v. Head

3. ““[JJudicial scrutiny of counsel’s performance must be highly deferential.” Because retrospective evaluation of a lawyer’s performance can be difficult, “a court must indulge a strong presumption that counsel’s conduct falls within the wide range of reasonable professional assistance; that is, the defendant must overcome the presumption that ... the challenged action might be considered sound trial strategy.” A petitioner must identify specific acts or omissions that were not the result of reasonable professional judgment, and a court should deem these acts or omissions deficient only if they “were outside the wide range of professionally competent assistance.” Simply put, the deference afforded an attorney’s decision is great and the bar for proving a Sixth Amendment violation is high. In light of the “strong presumption in favor of competence,” we have held that in order to prove deficient performance, “a petitioner must establish that no competent counsel would have taken the action that his counsel did take.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Freixas