United States of America Ex Rel. John McGrath v. J. E. Lavallee, Warden of Clinton Prison, Dannemora, New York’s Empirical Analysis
319 F.2d 308 · 1963
Citation profile
86 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 148 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently September 1987 · most notably Blackledge v. Allison (1977), Parker v. North Carolina (1970)
86 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on United States v. United States Gypsum Co. · Johnson v. Zerbst · Gideon v. Wainwright · Mapp v. Ohio · Townsend v. Sain
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 148 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"We cannot say that as a matter of law the only reasonable inference which the cold transcript supports is one of involuntariness in the entering of the guilty plea. The mere explanations to the prisoner of the alternatives before him cannot be viewed as improper coercion on the part of the judge; any coercion sensed by the prisoner may well have emanated from the realities of the situation, wholly apart from what happened in chambers. The appellant's predicament ■— the grave risk of the mandatory higher sentence for the recidivist convicted of first degree robbery — had on several occasions been explained to him by his attorney, and the consequences of conviction on this offense could largely have been deduced from a simple examination of the relevant sections of the penal code. We read the judge's remarks not as an enticement or threat by means of a prior commitment by the judge to the prisoner's sentence, but as merely a fair description of the consequences attendant upon the prisoner's choice of plea, a description which was manifestly essential to an informed decision on the part of the prisoner."”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“reveals upon its face that it is defective as a matter of law, the habeas court may dismiss the application without a hearing. See 28 U.S.C. § 2243; Walker v. Johnston, 312 U.S. [275] at 284, [61 S.Ct. [574] at 578, 85 L.Ed. 830] (1942). * * *”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The movant was not allowed to present any evidence in court or to testify himself as to his memory of the incidents complained of. He was not allowed a forum to express or establish his frame of mind at the time of the plea. The movant’s entire contention rests on the question of whether or not he acted under duress. It is not enough that defendant at the time of the plea states that he is not under threats or being coerced. The fact that the defendant in open court states that the plea is not coerced does not foreclose inquiry as to its involuntariness. The movant was entitled to an evidentiary hearing and the denial of such a hearing was error. [Citations omitted.]”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrencee.g. Toler v. Wyrick
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.