Nooner v. Norris’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The Tenth Circuit has held that victim impact evidence “does not violate the ex post facto prohibition ... because it neither changes the quantum of proof nor otherwise subverts the presumption of innocence.” Neill v. Gibson, 278 F.3d 1044, 1053 (10th Cir.2001). Similarly, the Fourth Circuit has concluded that admission of victim impact evidence in a sentencing conducted prior to Payne was not prejudicial because the rule in Payne would apply, at any resentencing. Washington v. Murray, 952 F.2d 1472, 1480 (1991). 53 We agree with our sister circuits and conclude that the Arkansas victim impact evidence statute is procedural in nature and does not offend the ex post facto clause. Arkansas’s statute does not alter the potential penalty faced by any defendant, nor does it alter the state’s burden of proof. Cf. Payne, 501 U.S. at 825 , 111 S.Ct. 2597 (“Victim impact evidence is simply another form or method of informing the sentencing authority about the specific harm caused by the crime in question, evidence of a general type long considered by sentencing authorities.”). Accordingly, the state court’s determination that the Arkansas statute does not violate the ex post facto clause was not contrary to Supreme Court precedent.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Rhines v. Young · 576 F. Supp. 2d 1130 - Gentry v. Sinclair

2. “‘twice deferential: we apply a highly deferential review to the state court decision; the state court, in turn, is highly deferential to the judgments of trial counsel.’”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Forrest v. Steele · Link v. Luebbers

3. “[S]trategic choices made after thorough investigation of law and facts relevant to plausible options are virtually unchallengeable; and strategic choices made after less than complete investigation are reasonable precisely to the extent that reasonable professional judgments support the limitations on investigation. In other words, counsel has a duty to make reasonable investigations or to make a reasonable decision that makes particular investigations unnecessary. In any ineffectiveness case, a particular decision not to investigate must be directly assessed for reasonableness in all the circumstances, applying a heavy measure of deference to counsel's judgments.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 579 F. Supp. 2d 1246 - Cole v. Roper