State v. Andrews’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 1 district · 8 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Because a comprehensive review of this case, being a capital one, is appropriate and necessary, we now address matters not specifically raised in defendant’s brief, viz., ... whether the standard of proof applied by the District Court in the defendant’s penalty phase violated due process .... [As to this matter], the reasons and conclusions stated in Pierre, supra, concerning them apply and control here. As to the matter of alleged dispropor-tionality between the capital offenses and the sentence of death imposed against the defendant, this Court recited in detail in Pierre the nature and circumstances of the three murders. We have briefly supplemented here these recitals by enumerating the particularized characteristics of the defendant and his involvement in these murders. And we conclude that so far as the verdict for death is concerned, the evidence discloses overwhelmingly that the jury could reasonably and unarbitrarily find as it did; and after our review of the matter, we hold that because of defendant’s involvement in these murders and his background and characteristics, dispropor-tionality between the crimes of murder and the death sentence does not exist.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Andrews v. Morris

2. “Evidence by witness Orren W. Walker, Jr. at the guilt phase revealed that [Andrews] asked Pierre in the basement of the Hi-Fi Shop, after Pierre had discharged his hand gun (not at that time shooting anyone), 'What did you do that for, man'; that [Andrews] was nervous and upset; that when Walker made no movement after being told by Pierre to administer the Drano to Michelle Ansley, Stanley Walker, and Cortney Naisbitt, [Andrews] said to Walker, 'Man, there is a gun at your head'; that either before or after the administration of the Drano to the victims [Andrews] said: 'I can't do it, I'm scared', though Walker stated he did not know to what this remark of [Andrews'] referred; and that Andrews, who left and returned to the basement on more than one occasion during the evening of April 22nd, was not observed firing any gun nor was he present when Michelle was raped and all the victims were shot.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Andrews v. Shulsen