State v. Goodale’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[a]n inappropriate sentence is not necessarily an illegal sentence. Although it is possible that a sentence for a term of years could be the functional equivalent of a life sentence, we are not faced with such a situation in this case. The sentence before us, when objectively reviewed, is not demonstrably the equivalent of a life sentence. The illegality of the sentence does not appear clearly on the face of the record.”

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

2. “did acknowledge that defendant's case lacked the aggravating circumstances that would justify a life sentence....”

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