Richter v. Hickman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 federal appellate · 1 district · 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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““An application for a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of a person in custody pursuant to the judgment of a State court shall not be granted with respect to any claim that was adjudicated on the merits in State court proceedings unless the adjudication of the claim— “(1) resulted in a decision that was contrary to, or involved an unreasonable application of, clearly established Federal law, as determined by the Supreme Court of the United States; or “(2) resulted in a decision that was based on an unreasonable determination of the facts in light of the evidence presented in the State court proceeding.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Libberton v. Ryan · Harrington v. Richter

2. ““Counsel is obligated to conduct a reasonable investigation in order to present the most persuasive case that he can. Counsel must conduct a pretrial investigation into the availability of independent, objective sources to support the part of his client’s testimony that he knows or can reasonably expect will be challenged, and subsequently to present to the jury any evidence he finds that tends to show his client’s innocence, tends to undermine the prosecution’s case, or raises a reasonable doubt as to his client’s guilt, unless he makes an informed, strategic decision that the risks of introducing such evidence outweigh its benefit to the defense.” Richter, 578 F.3d at 956-57 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 725 F. Supp. 2d 925 - Lang v. Cullen

3. ““Counsel’s failure to consult any forensic expert constituted a threefold abrogation of his duty under Strickland . Counsel’s first failing lay in his inadequate investigation prior to settling on a trial strategy; his second, in failing to conduct the necessary investigation before trial to determine what forensic evidence might be available for him to introduce or how expert testimony might support the theory he had chosen; and his third, in failing to consult experts who could assist during trial when the State, foreseeably, introduced damaging expert testimony regarding the blood evidence in the case.” Id. at 954 (emphasis original).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 725 F. Supp. 2d 925 - Lang v. Cullen