56 N.C. App. 442 - State v. Kelly’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “So I charge that if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the alleged date the defendant intentionally and with malice but not in self-defense, killed the victim with a deadly weapon thereby proximately causing the victim’s death, it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of second-degree murder. However, if you do not so find or have a reasonable doubt as to one or more of these things, you would not return a verdict of guilty [of] second-degree murder. If you do not find the defendant guilty of second-degree murder, you must consider whether he’s guilty of voluntary manslaughter. If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the alleged date the defendant intentionally killed the victim with a deadly weapon and the defendant was the aggressor in bringing on the fight or used excessive force, it would be your duty to find the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter even if the State has failed to prove that the defendant did not act in self-defense, or if you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the alleged date the defendant intentionally and not in self-defense killed the victim with a deadly weapon but the State has failed to satisfy you beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant did not act in the heat of passion upon adequate provocation, it would be your duty to return a verdict of guilty of voluntary manslaughter. However, if you do not so find or have a reasonable d”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 154 N.C. App. 496 - State v. Williams