State v. Bates’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]t is appropriate when the level of brutality involved exceeds that normally found in first-degree murders or when the murder in question is conscienceless, pitiless, or unnecessarily torturous to the victim. It also arises when the killing demonstrates an unusual depravity of mind on the part of the defendant. Among the types of murders that meet the above criteria are those that are physically agonizing or otherwise dehumanizing to the victim and those that are less violent but involve the infliction of psychological torture.”

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

2. “[i]f the evidence is sufficient to fully satisfy the State’s burden of proving each and every element of the offense of murder in the first degree, including premeditation and deliberation, and there is no evidence to negate these elements other than defendant’s denial that he committed the offense, the trial [court] should properly exclude from jury consideration the possibility of a conviction of second degree murder.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 129 N.C. App. 192 - State v. Stinnett

3. “the prosecutor commented on the demeanor of the defendant, which was before the jury at all times. Such statements are not comparable to those which this Court has previously held to be improper comments on a defendant's failure to testify.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bates v. Rc Lee