Sam v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““. . . The law does not make it any part of the jury’s province to speculate on the defendant’s conduct in the penitentiary, and the awards of grace he may receive because of good behavior. In fact, the jury’s role is that of an arm of the judicial branch of the government, and the incarceration of a convict is one of administration for an arm of the executive branch of the government. To permit the jury to project itself in this manner into the executive branch of the government is clearly contrary to our constitutional concept of division of powers. ...””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. McKee v. State · Robinson v. State

2. ““Defense counsel’s objection at trial was well taken, as the prosecutor’s remarks clearly alluded to the possibility of parole. As we have repeatedly held, such references are grossly prejudicial to an accused, and constitute the improper injection of administrative procedures into the judicial process.””

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