Gibson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “We do not believe that the accuracy of the Gibson brother’s murder conviction was seriously diminished by the charge that allowed the jury to presume malice. The jury heard plenty of testimony that established the malice element. For example, the brothers testified that they killed Bramlett; the defense stipulated that the brother's weapons were used to kill Bramlett; the brothers had a prior history of altercations with Bramlett; knowing that Bramlett was out to cause trouble on the evening of the killing, the brothers armed themselves with loaded weapons and carried them in the back seat of their vehicle; and David testified that he shot Bramlett two times with his .22 Magnum as Bramlett was in a crouch beside Edwards' car. Based on this evidence, we do not believe that the jury's capacity to arrive at a verdict was seriously diminished by the defective malice charge.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 383 F. Supp. 2d 870 - Gibson v. Bazzle

2. “I charge you further that malice is presumed from the use of a deadly weapon, and I charge you in that connection, that the burden is on the State to prove malice by evidence, satisfying you beyond a reasonable doubt. This presumption is also a rebuttable one.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 383 F. Supp. 2d 870 - Gibson v. Bazzle

3. “Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided Sandstrom in 1979, Donnie Ray could have raised the issue in 1981, in his first application. Therefore, we find that he should not be able to raise the issue in the present PCR application.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 383 F. Supp. 2d 870 - Gibson v. Bazzle