402 So. 2d 650 - State v. Sonnier’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 80 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 92 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2023 · most notably State v. Ramseur (1987), Monroe v. Louisiana (1983)
7 federal appellate · 80 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Gregg v. Georgia · Lockett v. Ohio · Godfrey v. Georgia · State v. Holmes · State v. Sonnier
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 92 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“there was torture or the pitiless infliction of unnecessary pain on the victim”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“Upon its own motion the court may, and upon request of the state or the defendant the court shall, order that the witnesses be excluded from the courtroom or from where they can see or hear the proceedings and refrain from discussing the facts of the case or the testimony of any witness with anyone other than the district attorney or defense counsel. The court may modify its order in the interest of justice.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.