Adams v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
40 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 47 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently March 2019 · most notably Adams v. Texas (1980), Cantu v. State (1992)
40 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Brady v. State of Maryland · Gregg v. Georgia · Witherspoon v. Illinois · Furman v. Georgia · Lockett v. Ohio
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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[A]ppellant argues that Article 37.-071(b)(2) V.A.C.C.P. is unconstitutional in that it diminishes the burden of proof required under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments[, inter alia,] ... Specifically, he maintains that since the jury is required to find only a probability that the defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society, the standard of proof is significantly less stringent than proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Although appellant’s argument is quite novel, we find it to be without merit.... To single out the word “probability” from the language of the second special issue and infer a lessening of the State’s burden of proof is to take the word totally out of context. Such an interpretation of the statute violates the spirit of the Code Construction Act....”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Kemp v. State“fail to present for the jury's consideration any concept of `desert,' thus depriving the defendant of the critical consideration of the jury of any defined standard by which they may decide if the defendant `ought to die,' this being a requirement of the Constitution as interpreted in Gregg v. Georgia, [ 428 U.S. 153 , 96 S.Ct. 2909 , 49 L.Ed.2d 859 (1976) ].”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Black v. State“there are no provisions for jury lenience if all the special issues are answered affirmatively thus calling for jury negation should the jury believe that under all the circumstances the defendant does not `deserve' a sentence of death.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Black v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.