Conner v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 30 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 36 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Initially, we have a question of preservation of error. Conner’s claims are based on a contention that section 690.1 requires the State to prove in a murder case that the killing took place and was done with malice aforethought. Instruction 11 only required proof that Nowlin killed with malice aforethought and only required Conner’s participation in the robbery. Conner asserts the instruction incorrectly substitutes and attributes Nowlin’s action and malice aforethought to Conner on a finding that Conner aided and abetted the robbery. Conner did not raise this objection in the trial court when exceptions were taken to the instruction. He claims he preserved error by referring to his motion for a directed verdict at the close of the State’s evidence which was renewed at the end of the evidence. We find this contention is incorrect. The motion for a directed verdict referred to the open charge of murder, requesting that murder in the first degree be removed as an issue on grounds that the indictment was faulty for not specifically alleging the killing was deliberate, willful or premeditated and failing to refer to a specific felony. In the portion of the motion directed at murder in the second degree, he pointed out the insufficiency of the evidence that Conner killed with malice aforethought or that he aided and abetted in second degree murder, but made no claim that Conner could not be held responsible for Nowlin’s action due to Conner’s participation in the robbery. The tria”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 715 F. Supp. 925 - Conner v. Director of Division of Adult Corrections

2. “We have long held, and it is the general law of this nation, that an accessory is responsible for everything done by the principal that is incidental to carrying out the illegal act — even though the injury was greater than planned. [State v.] Lyons, 202 Iowa [1195] at 1197, 211 N.W. at 702-03. Our law, which holds an accessory responsible for joint criminal conduct, does not violate the accomplice’s due process right. Accomplice liability is not akin to the evidentiary or procedural presumptions that are condemned in Sandstrom [v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510 , 99 S.Ct. 2450 , 61 L.Ed.2d 39 (1975) ]; rather, it is a matter of substantive law that places responsibility on a wrongdoer for the direct and indirect consequences of his joint criminal conduct with another. The State, through the enactment of laws, has a right to prescribe the nature of the acts that constitute criminal conduct.”

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

3. “Defendant’s claim that the felony-murder statute requires he must be proved to have had the mens rea of malice aforethought requires a contorted interpretation of the statute. Under his theory, it would be a rare occasion when a person who has aided and abetted a felony would be convicted of felony-murder. The fact that killing was not within the actual contemplation and intention of one of the parties to the robbery does not relieve such person of the responsibility as long as the other party to the robbery had the necessary mens rea and the act was a consequence of carrying out the unlawful common design.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 715 F. Supp. 925 - Conner v. Director of Division of Adult Corrections