State v. Aarsvold’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

18 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Subdivision 1. Burglary in the first degree. Whoever enters a building without consent and with intent to commit a crime commits burglary in the first degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 20 years or to payment of a fine of not more than $35,000, or both, if: (a) the building is a dwelling and another person not an accomplice is present in it; (b) the burglar possesses a dangerous weapon or explosive when entering or at any time while in the building; or (c) the burglar assaults a person within the building. Subd. 2. Burglary in the second degree. Whoever enters a building without consent and with intent to commit a crime commits burglary in the second degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than ten years or to payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both, if: (a) the building is a dwelling; * * * * * * Subd. 3. Burglary in the third degree. Whoever enters a building without consent and with intent to steal or commit any felony or gross misdemeanor commits burglary in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both. Subd. 4. Burglary in the fourth degree. Whoever enters a building without consent and with intent to commit a misdemeanor other than to steal commits burglary in the fourth degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than one year or to payment of a fine of not more than $3,000, or both.”

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

2. “The legislature did not create the felony of sale of cocaine because of any inherent life-threatening qualities. Rather, it was created by the legislature because cocaine has a high potential for abuse and may lead to psychological dependence. See State v. Vernon, 283 N.W.2d 516 (Minn.1979). Thus, although cocaine is admittedly a substance with an adverse effect on a person’s health, use of cocaine, even when injected, does not generally cause death. See People v. Pinckney, 65 Misc.2d 265 , 317 N.Y.S.2d 416 (1971) (injection of heroin into the body does not generally in itself cause death). Because the sale of cocaine alone does not justify the assumption that the purchaser is incurring a substantial and unjustified risk of death, we hold that sale alone is not a proper felony upon which to predicate a charge of felony murder. To hold otherwise would give the felony-murder statute a broader scope than this court will impute in the absence of clear legislative intent to effectuate that meaning.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. United States v. Henderson

3. “[t]he determination made by the trial court in this case is solely a question of law. The State has no additional evidence to gather which would bolster prosecution on this count. Because trial judges recognize that it is not their function to overrule the legal rulings of their colleagues, it is highly improbable that the State could successfully bring the complaint to another judge. It is also undesirable to require the State to engage in “judge-shopping” in hopes of finding a judge who disagrees with his or her colleague’s ruling. We therefore hold that this order is an appealable order under Minnesota Rule of Criminal Procedure 28.04, subd. 1.”

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