State v. Dionne’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 43 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 45 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““When one drives a motor vehicle in violation of the criminal law pertaining to the operation of such a vehicle on a public highway and, in doing so, causes the death of another, the deceased’s negligence is irrelevant absent evidence that would support a finding that the deceased’s conduct amounted to an independent intervening cause.” (Emphasis added.) Id. at 887 .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Benoit · Kuras v. International Harvester Co.

2. ““Reckless driving is a driving in such a manner as to indicate either a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of the person or property of others. Willful means deliberate. It necessarily implies a certain degree of willpower or evil purpose or criminal intent. It implies a pur pose or willingness to commit the act referred to, and it excludes the inference that it might have resulted from accident or mistake. Wanton means without regard to the rights of others. Reckless connotes something more than the negligence of the defendant. It connotes a conscious and intentional driving that the driver knows or should know creates an unreasonable risk of harm to others, even though he has no actual intent to harm him. * * * ‘Recklessness, like negligence, must be related to time, place, persons and surrounding circumstances and be measured by them. Excessive speed under some circumstances may amount to mere negligence and under other circumstances it may constitute willful or wanton disregard of the safety of others.’ The question that you must ask yourself is, does the evidence show that the driver of the motor vehicle has embarked upon a course of conduct which demonstrates a heedless indifference to the consequences of his actions. Mere error in judgment by a driver is not sufficient * * *. Among the elements you may consider in connection with determining whether or not a defendant’s conduct was violative of the statute, are weather conditions, road conditions, drinking by a”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Watkins

3. ““When one drives a motor vehicle in violation of the criminal law pertaining to the operation of such a vehicle on a public highway and, in doing so, causes the death of another, the deceased’s negligence is irrelevant absent evidence that would support a finding that the deceased’s conduct amounted to an independent intervening cause. [Citations omitted.] “The doctrine of independent intervening cause recognizes that there may be concurrent proximate causes that contribute to an individual’s injuries or death and that a person’s misconduct is not always rendered remote in the causal sense because of the intervening of a second cause. If the independent or intervening cause is reasonably foreseeable, the causal connection remains unbroken. [Citations omitted.] In other words, before the trial justice is obligated to charge the jury regarding the consideration that may be given to the deceased’s conduct in a case such as the one at bar, evidence must have been introduced which would indicate that the deceased’s conduct was the sole cause of [his] death and that the defendant’s conduct had nothing to do with the fatality.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Watkins