Richter v. Hickman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate ·

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

1. “In phrasing the request for clarification the way they did, it is unlikely that the jury was attempting to determine whether someone who began to aid and abet a robbery only after a murder had been committed must be found guilty of the murder.... Even if the trial court did commit constitutional error, the error was harmless. For the error to have an injurious effect or influence in determining the jury’s verdict, the jury must have believed ... that (1) Richter had no intention of robbing Johnson (or of helping Branscombe rob Johnson) when he and Branscombe drove to Johnson’s house around 4:00 that morning, (2) Branscombe, unbeknownst to Richter, decided to rob Johnson and shoot Klein, (3) after Klein was shot, Richter decided to aid and abet Branscombe in committing the robbery. Neither the State nor the defendants argued such a theory of the case. Such a conclusion would go against significant evidence presented at trial, including the evidence showing that Richter owned the same type of bullets used to shoot Klein. This conclusion would also be inconsistent with the testimony of both Richter and Johnson. It is unlikely that any member of the jury arrived at this conclusion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Richter v. Harrington

2. “Even had the jury heard the proffered expert’s testimony that the Mac-12 could jam, there is no reasonable probability that the jury would have accepted appellants’ theory that the Mac-12 did jam in this case. The proffered expert offers no opinion on the actual likelihood that such a modification would cause the weapon to jam. Garbutt, the State’s own expert, admitted at trial that the modifications to Johnson’s Mac-12 could possibly cause it to fail to fire, but found that the weapon successfully fired each of the three times that he tested it.... The totality of the evidence presented at trial weighs strongly against appellants’ theory that the Mac-12 jammed and that Branscombe fired at Klein in self-defense. There is no reasonable probability that the jury would have changed its verdict had they heard additional testimony stating that the Mac-12 could possibly malfunction in some manner.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Richter v. Harrington

3. “The trial court’s response to the jury’s request for clarification could be interpreted as an inaccurate statement of California law.... The most natural reading of the colloquy is that it correctly states California’s felony murder rule: when a defendant aids and abets a robbery, and someone is killed during the robbery, the defendant is guilty of both robbery and murder, even if his accomplice does the killing. But the colloquy goes further. It permits the jury to conclude that a defendant who aids and abets a robbery-murder must be found guilty of robbery and murder even if he does not begin to aid or abet the robbery until after the murder has already occurred. This interpretation of the colloquy [would be] an incorrect statement of California law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Richter v. Harrington