State v. Ruffner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The court may correct an illegal sentence at any time. The court may correct a sentence imposed in an illegal manner and it may reduce any sentence when a motion is filed within one hundred and twenty (120) days after the sentence is imposed, or within one hundred and twenty (120) days after receipt by the court of a mandate of the Supreme Court of Rhode Island issued upon affirmance of the judgment or dismissal of the appeal, or within one hundred and twenty (120) days after receipt by the court of a mandate or order of the Supreme Court of the United States issued upon affir-mance of the judgment, dismissal of the appeal, or denial of a writ of certiorari. The court shall act on the motion within a reasonable time, provided that any delay by the court in ruling on the motion shall not prejudice the movant. The court may reduce a sentence, the execution of which has been suspended, upon revocation of probation.””

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

2. ““for the proposition [that] there’s a very strong policy against interfering with a trial justice’s discretion in sentencing matters, and [that] the Supreme Court will only interfere in what they categorize, in their words, the instance where the sentence imposed is * * * without justification * * * [and] grossly disparate from the other sentences generally imposed for similar offenses.””

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