328 So. 2d 18 - Douglas v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 32 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently February 2004 · most notably Proffitt v. Florida (1976), Pulley v. Harris (1984)
2 federal appellate · 32 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 Furman v. Georgia · 283 So. 2d 1 - State v. Dixon · 301 So. 2d 7 - State v. Barber · United States v. Kobli · Tanksley v. United States
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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“On the afternoon of July 16, 1963 (sic), Helen Atkins learned that she was being evicted by her landlord from the trailer she rented. She proceeded with the victim to the trailer in the vicinity of Bowling Green, Florida, and gathered up her belongings. On the way back the defendant drove up behind them in his truck and ordered the victim who was driving their automobile to pull over to the side of the road. With the use of a rifle, the defendant required them to proceed in a rather complicated route. At one point the vehicle became stuck. At defendant’s direction all three walked to a mine where they got a man to take them back in a truck and free the vehicle. The defendant then required them to proceed to a wooded area near Brewster, Florida. The defendant then made her and the victim undress and perform various sexual acts before him. The defendant then struck the victim in the head with the butt of his rifle, with such force that the stock of the rifle was shattered. The defendant then fired three shots into the head of the victim. Helen Atkins was then ordered to perform certain sexual acts upon and with the defendant. The body of the victim was later covered with grass and bushes.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“She testified as to having met the appellant, Howard Virgil Lee Douglas, and the victim, Jesse “Jay” William Atkins, at about the same time. She lived with the defendant for periods of time before and after her marriage to the victim. She had resumed living together with her husband for some short period of time up to the date of the crime.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“We do not have here the classic nonpublic trial which our jurisprudence has abhorred since the nation was founded. I agree with the majority there was no 'Star Chamber' or 'Inquisitorial' proceeding ....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.