United States v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 federal appellate · 1 district ·

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

1. “(o)nce a prima facie defense of insanity has been raised, the Government has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was sane.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Carr · United States v. Wilson

2. “1. Was he suffering from a mental illness at the time of the commission of the crime? 2. Was the illness such as to prevent his knowing the wrongfulness of his act? 3. Was the mental illness such as to render him substantially incapable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law he is charged with violating? A negative finding as to the first question or negative findings as to both the second and third questions would require rejection of the insanity defense. An affirmative finding as to the first question, plus an affirmative finding as to either the second or the third question, would require a jury verdict of “not guilty” because of defendant’s lack of criminal responsibility.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Burks

3. “a statement that the witness never observed an abnormal act on the part of the accused is of value if, but only if, the witness had prolonged and intimate contact with the accused.... There is nothing to show that these witnesses had the capacity — as an expert might— to make valid psychological judgments on the basis of these relatively brief contacts.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gall v. Parker