Waters v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Mjalice includes all acts done voluntarily and with a wilful disregard for the rights and safety of others. Malice, therefore, is a condition of mind or heart, existing at the commission of the fatal act; it includes that general reckless disregard of human life which proceeds from a heart and mind void of a just sense of social duty and fatally bent on mischief.... Implied or constructive malice must be shown by the character of the fatal attack and the surrounding circumstances. Where there is proved no fact or circumstance indicating that the accused acted with a sedate and deliberate mind, yet where the fatal act was unlawful and cruel and voluntarily committed, without adequate provocation, and in circumstances showing a wicked indifference to human life or with a reckless disregard of the consequences, the law implies or infers malice.... Murder in the second degree is where the killing is done, not with express malice, but, rather, with implied or constructive malice, that is, where the malice is inferred from facts actually proved. Malice is implied by law from every intentional cruel act committed by one person against another, however, sudden the act may be. The law considers that he who commits a cruel act voluntarily, does it maliciously. Every person is presumed to contemplate and intend the natural and ordinary consequences of his own voluntary act; if the act, voluntarily and wilfully done, has a direct tendency to destroy the life of another, the natural conc”

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

2. “(a) A person who is in possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony is guilty of possession of a deadly weapon during commission of a felony. Possession of a deadly weapon during commission of a felony is a class B felony. (b) Notwithstanding § 4205 of this title, the minimum sentence for a violation of this section shall be not less than 5 years which minimum sentence shall not be subject to suspension and no person convicted for a violation of this section shall be eligible for parole or probation during such 5 years. (c) Any sentence imposed upon conviction for possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony shall not run concurrently with any other sentence. In any instance where a person is convicted of a felony, together with a conviction for the possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of such felony, such person shall serve the sentence for the felony itself before beginning the sentence imposed for possession of a deadly weapon during such felony. (d) Every person charged under this section over the age of 16 years shall be tried as an adult, notwithstanding any contrary provision of statutes governing the Family Court or any other state law. (e) A person may be found guilty of violating this section notwithstanding that the felony for which he is convicted and during which he possessed the deadly weapon is a lesser included felony of the one originally charged.”

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

3. “Drug Dealing in Cocaine, Count II. In order to find the defendant guilty of this charge, you must find the State has proved the following five elements beyond a reasonable doubt: 1. The defendant possessed a substance. 2. The substance possessed was Cocaine, or a mixture containing Cocaine, or had a chemical structure similar to Cocaine, or that it was designed to produce an effect substantially similar to Cocaine; 3. The defendant acted knowingly; 4. The defendant possessed 20 grams or more of the substance; and 5. When the defendant possessed the substance, he had the intent to deliver it. I previously have defined for you the terms "possession" and "knowingly," and those definitions apply to this charge as well. "Deliver" means the actual, constructive or attempted transfer from one person to another of an illegal or prohibited drug, either directly or through another person.”

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