State v. Hamilton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 12 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Hamilton] said he had gone to the victims’ house between 3:00 and 3:30 p.m. on the day of the shooting and that Nick Pappas and Cathy Larson were there at the time. He said he purchased some marijuana from Pappas and left for home, where he and his fiancee, Diane Nystrum [sic], stayed until about 8:00 p.m. when they went shopping and to his mother’s house before returning home. He stated that just prior to going to bed, Diane had seen a shadow outside the house and that he had gone upstairs to get his shotgun. He said he had sat up all night to protect the home with his shotgun. The officers then asked him if he had any guns besides the shotgun. Hamilton replied that he had a .38 caliber revolver and, when asked where it was, responded that it was “over to his mother’s house.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hamilton v. Nix · Hamilton v. Nix

2. “[Hamilton] stated he had shot the victims and that he had taken approximately ten pounds of marijuana and one ounce of cocaine from the Pappas home; that he took the marijuana to his mother’s home where he placed it in a suitcase and hid it in the basement, then he went to “a river” to dispose of the gun and, while walking on the ice, fell in.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hamilton v. Nix · Hamilton v. Nix