Coble v. Quarterman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 1 district · 2 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim— (1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or (2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Coble v. Dretke · Coble v. Dretke

2. “Coble also presented the testimony of two psychiatrists. The first, Dr. Stephen Mark, testified that Coble was dangerous and might continue to be a danger. In fact, Mark testified that everything in Coble’s history would make him a continuing threat. Mark also testified that Coble suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and bipolar disorder, and was prone to become “[p]o-tentially explosive and potentially aggressive and assaultive.” Mark traced the post-traumatic disorder to Coble’s experience in Vietnam, and suggested that the bipolar disorder might be hereditary. Mark also indicated that these illnesses made Coble susceptible to severe' mood swings, which resulted in a loss of control on the day of the murders. Mark did, however, indicate that Co-ble would be less likely to be violent if he took medication. In fact, Mark indicated that, had he known, before the murders, of Coble’s past and the depression Coble was experiencing because of the pending divorce and kidnapping charges, he would have recommended hospitalization for further treatment and evaluation. Mark also conceded that if Coble refused to take medication he would probably be violent in the future. Dr. Grigson, the second defense expert, testified that Coble was suffering from severe depression at the time of the murders, and that it was very improbable that Coble would commit this type of offense again. Specifically, Grig-son stated that Coble was more horrified by the pictures of the victims than”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Billie Coble v. Lorie Davis, Director

3. “You are instructed that when you deliberate on the questions posed in the special issues, you are to consider mitigating circumstances, if any, supported by the evidence presented in both phases of the trial, whether presented by the state or the defendant. A mitigating circumstance may include, but is not limited to, any aspect of the defendant’s character and record or circumstances of the crime which you believe could make a death sentence inappropriate in this case. If you find that there are any mitigating circumstances in this case, you must decide how much weight they deserve, if any, and therefore, give effect and consideration to them in assessing the defendant’s personal culpability at the time you answer the special issue. If you determine, when giving effect to the mitigating evidence, if any, that a life sentence, as reflected by a negative finding to the issue under consideration, rather than a death sentence, is an appropriate response to the personal culpability of the defendant, a negative finding should be given to one of the special issues. 532 U.S. at 789-90, 121 S.Ct. 1910 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Mines v. Quarterman