Weaver v. Bowersox’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 federal appellate · 3 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) an analogy that the role of a juror is like that of a soldier who must do his or her duty and have the courage to kill; (2) statements by the prosecutor about his personal belief in the death penalty; (3) statements that executing Weaver was necessary to sustain a societal effort as part of the “war on drugs”; (4) assertions that the prosecutor had a special position of authority and decided whether to seek the death penalty; and (5) arguments that were designed to appeal to the emotions of the jury (culminating in a statement that the jury should “kill [Weaver] now”).”

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

2. “(1) Measure the type of prejudice that arose from the argument, (2) examine what defense counsel did in his [or her] argument to minimize prejudice; (3) review jury instructions to see if the jury was properly instructed; and (4) determine if there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the sentencing phase would have been different, taking into account all the aggravating and mitigating circumstances.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 579 F. Supp. 2d 1246 - Cole v. Roper · 173 F. Supp. 3d 855 - McLaughlin v. Steele

3. “eviscerate[d] the concept of discretion afforded to a jury as required by the Eighth Amendment.”

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