Buttrum v. Black, Warden’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
5
cited by 5 later decisions
1
cited 1 times by the Supreme Court
1
states following
August 1995
most recently cited
1 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Gregg v. Georgia · Baskett v. United States · Rosene v. United States · Hawes v. State · Buttrum v. Georgia
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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"In closing argument at the sentencing phase of petitioner's trial, the prosecutor incorporated statements from an 1873 decision of the Georgia Supreme Court that appears with some regularity in contemporary capital sentencing proceedings in that state. See Eberhart v. State, 47 Ga. 598, 609-610 (1873); Ruffin v. State, 243 Ga. 95, 105 , 252 S.E.2d 472, 479-480 (1979). The effect of these statements was to lead the jury to believe that mercy was not a permissible component of their sentencing determination: "`You took an oath at the beginning of this case. You said, "I do," to "You shall well and truly try the issue formed upon this Bill of Indictment ... and a true verdict give according to the evidence. So help you God." "According to the evidence"; not according to mercy, not according to sympathy, not according to feeling sorry for a Defendant.... Mercy? I submit to you that we should have no sympathy with that sentiment that springs into action whenever a criminal is about to suffer for a crime. Society demands that the crime be punished and criminals warned. The false humanity that starts and shudders when the axe of justice is about to fall is a dangerous element for the peace of society. We have had too much of this mercy. It is not true mercy. It only looks to the criminal.... A stern, unbending, unflinching administration of justice is the surest way to prevent the commission of other heinous and horrible acts like the one committed by that Defendant. We are a socie”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.