Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 55 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 59 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(a) The jury shall impose a sentence of death if it unanimously returns written findings that: (1) Aggravating circumstances exist beyond a reasonable doubt; and (2) Aggravating circumstances outweigh beyond a reasonable doubt all mitigating circumstances found to exist; and (3) Aggravating circumstances justify a sentence of death beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Camargo v. State · Cox v. State

2. “The appellant next argues that “the Arkansas capital murder statutory scheme becomes a mandatory death statute, and as such, is unconstitutional because it does not allow the jury to show mercy to a particular defendant.” We most recently rejected this argument in Hill v. State, 289 Ark. 387 , 713 S.W.2d 233 (1986). There, quoting from Clines, Holmes, Richley & Orndorff v. State, 280 Ark. 77, 82 , 656 S.W.2d 684, 686 (1983), we wrote: “[W]hatever the jury may find with respect to aggravation versus mitigation, it is still free to return a verdict of life without parole, simply by finding that the aggravating circumstances do not justify a sentence of death.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sheridan v. State