People v. Castro’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““While the record reveals that there had been some arguments or quarrels between appellant and decedent, it was shown by the testimony of the landlady of the apartment house where this couple lived .that she had never heard them quarrel. Taken as a whole, the evidence presented falls short of the modicum required for a conviction of murder of the first degree, in that it fails to show that the injuries which decedent suffered were inflicted by appellant ‘with that intent or that malice aforethought which is a necessary ingredient of the crime of murder’. (People v. Kelley, 208 Cal. 387, 393 [ 281 P. 609 ].) The attending circumstances neither indicate an abandoned and malignant heart on the part of appellant, nor portray a wilful, deliberate or premeditated killing, but reveal a crime committed ‘upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion’, i. e., voluntary manslaughter. (Sec. 192, Pen. Code.)””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 65 Cal. App. 2d 622 - People v. Daniel