Fesmire v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 10 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ . . . Although the comparative merits of capital punishment have been presented in arguments before this Court many times, and the proponents for its abolition have argued its moral, legal, and social implications, neither this Court, nor as yet the Supreme Court of the United States, has seen fit to classify the imposition of capital punishment as being cruel and unusual and therefore in violation of the Constitution of the United States.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Menthen v. State · Williams v. State

2. ““Every person convicted of murder shall suffer death, or imprisonment at hard labor in the State penitentiary for life, at the discretion of the jury. Upon trial of an indictment for murder, the jury, if they find the defendant guilty, must designate in their verdict whether he shall be punished' by death or imprisonment for life at hard labor, and the judgment of the court shall be in accordance therewith. But upon a plea of guilty the court shall determine the same.””

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

3. ““Where the defendant seeks to withdraw his plea of guilty and substitute therefor a plea of not guilty the burden is upon the defendant to show that his plea of guilty was entered through inadvertance or through ignorance, influence, or without deliberation, and that there is a defense that should be presented to the jury.””

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