Murray v. Delo’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

35 federal appellate · 2 district · 5 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 60 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The question of proportionality involves a comparison with other cases, and the issue, to be sure, is not soluble in precisely quantifiable terms. It involves the exercise of discretion and judgment. That is true of many crucial issues in the law— deciding what a reasonably prudent person would do in certain circumstances, for example. We see no unfairness or deprivation of due process in the Missouri Supreme Court’s procedures for exercising a proportionality review.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. In re the Personal Restraint of Benn · Matter of Personal Restraint of Benn

2. “[The Court] must review the evidence [, including petitioner’s newly discovered evidence,] to determine ‘whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt[,]’ not whether ‘[the Court believes] that the evidence ... established] guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.’”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 879 F. Supp. 1503 - Perry v. Norris

3. “Enmund and Tison are felony-murder cases which apply in situations in which the defendant was not the shooter. [Here] the evidence at trial indicated that the petitioner actually committed at least one murder, and perhaps both.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Windel Ray Workman v. Mike Mullin, Warden, Oklahoma State Penitentiary