4 Cal. 5th 968 - People v. Soto’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “both a physical and a mental component. The physical component is satisfied by the performance of 'an act, the natural consequences of which are dangerous to life.' [Citation.] The mental component is the requirement that the defendant 'knows that his conduct endangers the life of another and ... acts with conscious disregard for life.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Jones

2. “The Legislature has decided, for policy reasons, that evidence of voluntary intoxication is irrelevant to proof of certain mental states. The Legislature may validly make that policy decision.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Berg

3. “that the rule of lenity, 'whereby courts must resolve doubts as to the meaning of a statute in a criminal defendant's favor'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 6 Cal. 5th 433 - People v. Franco