State v. Couch’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 46 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 50 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Sec. 41-2413 of the New Mexico Statutes Annotated provides among other things: ‘Killing in defense of person or property, — Such homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in either of the following cases: “‘First: When resisting any attempt to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person shall be. “ ‘Second: When committed in the lawful defense of such person, or his or her husband, wife, parent, brother, child, master, mistress, or servant, when there shall be reasonable ground to apprehend a design to commit a felony, or to do some great personal injury, and there shall be imminent danger of such design being accomplished; * * *.’ “If you find that at the time of the homicide, the defendant was acting in any of the manners set forth in said Sec. 41-2413, then the homicide is justifiable and your verdict must be for the defendant.””

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

2. ““We have thus gone at length into a review of the law upon this subject, and we deduce from the decided cases and the standard authors that a mere civil trespass upon a man’s dwelling house does not justify him in slaying the trespasser; that the owner may resist the trespass, opposing force against force, but he has no right to kill unless it becomes necessary to prevent a felonious destruction of his property or the commission of a felony therein, or to defend himself against a felonious assault against his life or person; that if he kills without reasonable apprehension of immediate danger to his person or property, but in the heat of passion aroused by the trespasser, it will be manslaughter * *”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Brown Ex Rel. Brown v. Martinez

3. ““Whether the amount of force used by appellant was more than the attack warranted was a question for the jury to determine, under proper instructions from the court.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brown Ex Rel. Brown v. Martinez