State v. Laws’s Empirical Analysis
1997
Citation profile
14
cited by 14 later decisions
1
states following
December 2014
most recently cited
14 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Holm v. United States · State v. Brown · State v. Vandiver · State v. Vandiver · State v. Gladden
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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A killing is ‘premeditated’ if the defendant contemplated killing for some period of time, however short, before he acted.” State v. Williams, 334 N.C. 440, 447 , 434 S.E.2d 588, 592 (1993), judgment vacated on other grounds, 511 U.S. 1001 , 128 L. Ed. 2d 42 (1994). A killing is “deliberate” if the defendant formed an intent to kill and carried out that intent in a cool state of blood, “free from any ‘violent passion suddenly aroused by some lawful or just cause or legal provocation.’ ” Id. (quoting State v. Fields, 315 N.C. 191, 200 , 337 S.E.2d 518, 524 (1985)). Premeditation and deliberation are mental processes and ordinarily are not susceptible to proof by direct evidence. Instead, they usually must be proved by circumstantial evidence. State v. Brown, 315 N.C. 40, 59 , 337 S.E.2d 808, 822-23 (1985), cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1164 , 90 L. Ed. 2d 733 (1986), overruled on other grounds by State v. Vandiver, 321 N.C. 570 , 364 S.E.2d 373 (1988). Circumstances from which premeditation and deliberation may be inferred include: “(1) lack of provocation on the part of the deceased, (2) the conduct and statements of the defendant before and after the killing, (3) threats and declarations of the defendant before and during the occurrence giving rise to the death of the deceased, (4) ill-will or previous difficulties between the parties, (5) the dealing of lethal blows after the deceased has been felled and rendered helpless, (6) evidence that the killing was done in a brutal manner”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“whether there is substantial evidence (1) of each essential element of the offense charged, or of a lesser offense included therein, and (2) of defendant's being the perpetrator of such offense. If so, the motion is properly denied.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“'relevant evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.'”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.