McCarthy v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘[SJince certain crimes, by definition, require the existence of a specific intent, any evidence relevant to the existence of that intent, including evidence of an abnormal mental condition not constituting legal insanity, is competent for the purpose of negating that intent. . [Thus] the actual purpose of such evidence is to establish, by negating the requisite intent for a higher degree of the offense, that in fact a lesser degree of the offense was committed.’”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bates v. State · State of Arizona v. Stephen Jay Malone Jr

2. ““In any prosecution for an offense which has an element of intention or knowledge, the defendant may prove as an affirmative defense by the testimony of a psychiatrist or other expert his inability, as a result of a mental illness or mental defect, to have the required state of mind at the time of the offense. He may, nevertheless, be convicted of any offense which he has committed requiring a state of mind which he was able to form.””

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

3. ““(a) In any prosecution for an offense, it is an affirmative defense that, at the time of the conduct charged, as a result of mental illness or mental defect, the accused lacked substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct dr lacked sufficient willpower to choose whether he would do the act or refrain from doing it.””

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