37 Cal. 4th 733 - People v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 113 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 122 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'[A]ttempted murder requires the specific intent to kill and the commission of a direct but ineffectual act toward accomplishing the intended killing.' [Citation.] Hence, in order for [a] defendant to be convicted of the attempted murder of [Jones], the prosecution had to prove he acted with specific intent to kill [Jones].”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 228 Cal. Rptr. 3d 468 - People v. Robbins · 200 Cal. Rptr. 3d 739 - People v. Turner

2. “Bland simply recognizes that a shooter may be convicted of multiple counts of attempted murder on a 'kill zone' theory where the evidence establishes that the shooter used lethal force designed and intended to kill everyone in an area around the targeted victim (i.e., the 'kill zone') as the means of * accomplishing the killing of that victim. Under such circumstances, a rational jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the shooter intended to kill not only his targeted victim, but also all others he knew were in the zone of fatal harm.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 7 Cal. 5th 591 - People v. Canizales

3. “In its classic form, the doctrine of transferred intent applies when the defendant intends to kill one person but mistakenly kills another. The intent to kill the intended target is deemed to transfer to the unintended victim so that the defendant is guilty of murder.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 200 Cal. Rptr. 3d 739 - People v. Turner