State v. Powell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “Was the State not entitled to rebut the evidence that Powell had presented at the hearing to support his departure motion? Of course, it was. And if the State was allowed to present rebuttal evidence, was the district court not allowed to consider the evidence in deciding the motion? Of course, it was. In ruling on Powell's departure motion, the district court expressly recited the mitigating factors set forth in the motion. The district court did not refer to the State's rebuttal evidence as 'aggravating circumstances'; in fact, the district court never used this term at the hearing. The district court never stated that it 21 had weighed aggravating circumstances against mitigating circumstances in denying Powell's motion. Instead, the district court merely stated that '[a]fter considering all of the information presented' at the hearing, it was unable to find substantial and compelling reasons to depart from the presumed sentence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Powell

2. “Powell's case provides a good example. Is the State allowed to present evidence at the departure hearing to rebut the defendant's evidence? If so, must the evidence presented by the State be limited strictly to the manner in which the defendant carried out the crime? How is the district court to consider the evidence presented by both parties in deciding the departure motion? In almost every hearing under the criminal code, parties are allowed to present conflicting evidence so the court will have all the relevant information to make an informed decision. Are we saying that departure hearings under Jessica's Law do not work this way?”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Powell

3. “because we cannot definitely determine from the record whether the sentencing court considered Powell's claimed mitigating circumstances without weighing them against the State's aggravating circumstances, we find it necessary to vacate Powell's sentence and remand for resentencing and for reconsideration of Powell's departure motion and, in reconsidering Powell's motion, to demonstrate compliance with Jolly.”

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