Jefferson v. Hall’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 1 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In mitigation, Jefferson presented the testimony of two Cobb County deputies, his mother, one of his sisters, the mother of his two children, and his own testimony. Ex. 25 at 1253, 1258, 1262, 1267, 1273, 1289. The employees of the Cobb County Sheriffs Department generally testified that Jefferson had caused no problems since his incarceration. Ex. 25 at 1253-60.' Jefferson’s mother, Vera Jefferson, testified about his difficult childhood, which included growing up without a father and taking care of his siblings. Ex. 25 at 1263-65. She testified that Jefferson was responsible, generous, gentle, and kind, loved.people and was very playful as a child. Ex, 25 at 1263-66. She mentioned to the jury that Jefferson was injured at the age of two when a car ran over the top of his head, but she was not questioned and did not. offer any testimony regarding the impact, if any, that the accident had on him. Ex, 25 at 1264. Jefferson’s mother asked the jury to have mercy on her son. Ex. 25 at 1266— 67, Jefferson’s sister, Rita Jefferson, also testified about Jefferson’s generosity and sense of responsibility.' Ex. 26 at 1269-70. She explained to the jury that Jefferson would get her and her sisters ready for school, take them to school, bring them home from school, prepare them for bed, and take them to church. Ex. 25 at 1270-71. She added that he helped her with her sons. Ex. 25 at 1269. She testified about Jefferson being in the Navy and later attending vocational/technical school. Ex.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Jefferson v. Sellers

2. ““[NJeither [of defendant’s attorneys] witnessed anything in their frequent and extensive dealings with [the defendant] to indicate that he was afflicted with any mental disorder that might have been relevant to the murder. Cf. Housel v. Head, 238 F.3d 1289, 1296 (11th Cir.2001) (counsel not ineffective for failing to pursue mental health investigation where counsel knew the defendant had suffered a head injury in an automobile accident, but observed nothing unusual about the defendant’s behavior, testifying that he was one of counsel’s ‘most intelligent’ clients); Holladay v. Haley, 209 F.3d 1243, 1252 (11th Cir.2000) (counsel not ineffective for failing to pursue mental health investigation where the petitioner did not tell counsel of his stay at a mental hospital and counsel found the petitioner to be cooperative, articulate, and affable); Williams [v. Head], 185 F.3d [1223] at 1239 [(11th Cir.1999) ] (counsel not ineffective for failing to pursue mental health investigation where counsel had no problems communicating with the petitioner, found the petitioner to be intelligent, attentive, cooperative, polite, and interested in what was happening, to ask intelligent questions and to respond intelligently to counsel’s questions).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. James v. State

3. “That Jefferson was helpful and always cooperated in building a defense is not inconsistent with brain- damage. The statement that Jefferson “was ‘always very calm and always extremely helpful’ ” overlooks the part of Dr. Dudley’s report about what happened when he went to the jail to continue with testing that he had begun the day before: “Mr. Jefferson became agitated and disorganized in his behavior, berating me for not having made an appointment with him, and insisting that I come back another day. I discussed with him the possibility that his failure to cooperate would not be in his best interests, but he was adamant in refusing to work with me at that time.” Jefferson later explained to Dr. Dudley, “I get that way sometimes, man.” [Respondent’s Ex. 40: 372]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Jefferson v. Sellers