State v. Cooley’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “due to the error in granting the solicitor’s request for a voluntary manslaughter charge, [Cook] will not have to face a jury of his peers on the charge of murder again. This is a cautionary tale for solicitors as to the pitfalls of requesting a potential “compromise” charge which is unsupported by the evidence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Cook v. State

2. “Furthermore, based on the testimony presented at Defendant’s trial, the result of our holding here is that without any evidence of legal provocation Defendant cannot be retried on the charge of voluntary manslaughter. Thus, retrial will be limited to the charge of involuntary manslaughter.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Smith

3. “[w]here death is caused by the use of a deadly weapon, words alone, however opprobrious, are not sufficient to constitute a legal provocation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Wharton