Commonwealth v. Hager’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

23 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “INSTRUCTION NO. VII Even though the defendant might otherwise be guilty of Murder under Instruction V, or First Degree Manslaugh ter under Instruction VI, if at the time the defendant killed Roy Thomas Faul-coner he believed that Roy Thomas Faulconer was then and there about to use, or believed there was an impending danger that Roy Thomas Faulconer would use physical force upon him, he was privileged to use such physical force against Roy Thomas Faulconer as he believed to be necessary in order to protect himself against it, but including the right to use deadly physical force in so doing only if he believed it to be necessary in order to protect himself from death or serious physical injury at the hands of Roy Thomas Faulconer. Provided, however, if you believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was mistaken in his belief that it was necessary to use physical force against Roy Thomas Faulconer in self-protection, or in his belief in the degree of force necessary to protect himself, AND A. That when he killed Roy Thomas Faulconer he was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk that he was mistaken in that belief, and that his disregard of that risk constituted a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would have observed in the same situation, then you shall not find the defendant guilty of Murder under Instruction V or First Degree Manslaughter under Instruction VI, but shall instead fin”

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

2. “[A]ll KRS 503 justifications, including self-protection, are premised upon a defendant’s actual subjective belief in the need for the conduct constituting the justification and not on the objective reasonableness of that belief.... [However], the statute recognizes that a defendant may be mistaken in his belief and that the mistaken belief, itself, may be so unreasonably held as to constitute wantonness or recklessness with respect to the circumstance then being encountered. If so, the statute provides that the justification, e.g., self-protection, is unavailable as a defense to an offense having the mens rea element of wantonness, e.g. second-degree manslaughter, or recklessness, e.g., reckless homicide, “as the case may be.” Thus, while a wantonly held belief in the need to act in self-protection is a defense to an offense having the mens rea element of intent, it supplies the element of wantonness necessary to convict of second-degree manslaughter; and while a recklessly held belief in the need to act in self-protection is defense to an offense requiring either intent or wantonness, it supplies the element of recklessness necessary to convict of reckless homicide.”

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

3. “Once evidence is introduced which justifies an instruction on self-protection or any other justification defined in KRS [Cjhapter 503, the Commonwealth has the burden to disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt, and its absence becomes an element of the offense. KRS 500.070(1), (3), and 1974 Commentary thereto; Brown v. Commonwealth, Ky., 555 S.W.2d 252, 257 (1977). The burden of proof is assigned by including as an element of the instruction on the offense “that he was not privileged to act in self-protection.” E.g., 1 Cooper, Kentucky Instructions to Juries (Criminal), § 3.21 (4th ed. Anderson 1993).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Lapradd v. Commonwealth