Fleming, Mark Alexander’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. “Because [it] serves the legitimate state objective of protecting children, we will not read a mens rea element into the statute [with respect to the age of the victim] and do not believe that failure to require mens rea as to the victim’s age violates the federal or state constitution. The statutory prohibition of an adult having sex with a person who is under the age of consent serves to protect young people from being coerced by the power of an older, more mature person. The fact that the statute does not require the State to prove mens rea as to the victim’s age places the burden on the adult to ascertain the age of a potential sexual partner and to avoid sexual encounters with those who are determined to be too young to consent to such encounters.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Arias v. State · White v. State

2. “It would be unconscionable for us to allow a 25-year-old man who was having sex with a 13-year-old child to claim that his actions were excused because he reasonably believed that he was having sex with an adult. Such a defense is precluded by the overriding interest in protecting children.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Arias v. State

3. “[S]exual intercourse is not a crime except in certain circumstances, such as ... when the other person is deemed unable to consent due to his or her age.” Further,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Stephan Andrew Cox v. State