State v. Sprague’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[I]f [the victim] was the aggressor, and [the defendant], even though not intending to kill [the victim], accidentally administered the fatal wound while attempting to defend himself, it cannot be said that his conduct was unlawful. However, defendant could not appeal to the law of self-defense as a justification for the homicide. Instead, defendant could invoke the right of self-defense in arguing that his act which accidentally resulted in the killing of [the victim] was not itself unlawful” (emphasis original).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Turner

2. “If a defense provided under this chapter is precluded solely because the requirement that the actor’s belief be reasonable has not been met, he may be convicted only of a crime for which recklessness or criminal negligence suffices, depending on whether his holding the belief was reckless or criminally negligent.”

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