Robbins v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 66 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 68 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This court, early on, voiced its belief in the “humane principle applicable in general to criminal cases, and especially those where life is involved,” and declined to exalt form over substance when dealing with the death penalty. Bivens v. State, 11 Ark. 455 , 457 (1850). More recently, this court has repeatedly set aside strict adherence to procedural rules in connection with postconviction relief out of concern for fairness in death-penalty cases. See, e.g., Sanders v. State, 352 Ark. 520 , 98 S.W.3d 35 [2003] (holding that a capital defendant should be afforded the protections of Rule 37.5 in this death case even though the rule was not in effect at the time of his offense); McGhee v. State [sic], 344 Ark. 602, 604 , 43 S.W.3d 125, 127 (2001) (holding that, because “[d]eath-penalty cases are different from other criminal cases, due to the obvious finality of the punishment,” a trial court was obligated to make specific findings of fact and conclusions of law in its order; refusing to affirm summarily despite a flagrantly deficient abstract); Echols v. State, 344 Ark. 513 , 42 S.W.3d 467 (2001) (holding that in death penalty cases, Rule 37.5 requires a heightened level of scrutiny; remanding an insufficient order for specific findings of fact and conclusions of law on each issue raised); Jackson v. State, 343 Ark. 613, 619 , 37 S.W.3d 595, 599 (2001) (holding that a capital defendant whose petition for Rule 37 relief was late because of a “breakdown in the State-provided p”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Collins v. State

2. “The circumstances the court referred to included the facts that [1] a federal court had dismissed a related habeas case based on a failure to exhaust state remedies, [2] the Arkansas Supreme Court had recently decided a case that was “on all fours legally with the issue presented” in Robbins, [3] and the case was a capital case that the Arkansas Supreme Court viewed as qualitatively different and worthy of more thorough review.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Wooten v. State

3. “The power of an appellate court to recall its mandate, if the circumstances warrant it, is recognized both in federal courts and state courts across the country.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ward v. State