Abrams v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “Our supreme court has repeatedly held that "the Bazell holding only applies forward, except those cases pending on direct appeal." State ex rel. Windeknecht v. Mesmer , 530 S.W.3d 500 , 503 (Mo. banc 2017) ; see also State ex rel. Zahnd v. Van Amburg , 533 S.W.3d 227 , 229 n.2 (Mo. banc 2017) ("the holdings in Bazell and [ State v. Smith , 522 S.W.3d 221 , 229-31 (Mo. banc 2017) ] apply only prospectively and to cases still pending on direct appeal."); State ex rel. Fite v. Johnson , 530 S.W.3d 508 , 510-11 (Mo. banc 2017) (concluding that a Rule 29.07(d) motion's claim that the circuit court must withdraw a movant's guilty plea for felony stealing was "substantively meritless" because Bazell's holding only applies prospectively). Despite those clear holdings, Movant argues that a Bazell challenge, which asserts that an unlawful sentence has been imposed, may be successfully raised for the first time in a timely Rule 24.035 motion. Our Western District recently rejected the same point and supporting arguments as those raised here (asserted by the same appellate counsel) in Watson v. State , 545 S.W.3d 909 , 913-16, (Mo.App. W.D. 2018). We concur in Watson's reasoning, reject Movant's point accordingly, and affirm the order denying Rule 24.035 relief.[ ]”

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