Williams v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 1 district · 10 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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “. the test in this circuit for determining the constitutional validity of a state court guilty plea when the defendant has been given sentencing misinformation is whether the defendant was aware of actual sentencing possibilities, and, if not, whether accurate information would have made any difference in his decision to enter a plea. Caputo v. Henderson, 541 F.2d 979 (2d Cir. 1976); Kelleher v. Henderson, 531 F.2d 78 (2d Cir. 1976). Where government error is responsible for the misinformation, the government carries the burden of proof on the issue of reliance. Caputo v. Henderson, supra, (footnote omitted)”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Gerald D. Taylor · Akins v. Smith

2. “A final point which suggests inferentially that Williams’ plea would not have been different had he been given accurate sentencing information is the failure of either Williams or his attorney to raise any form of objection once they were apprised of the possible application of the persistent offender statute. Williams’ sentencing took place several weeks after he and his attorney had been informed of the actual sentencing possibilities, but neither suggested at any point during that time that the plea of guilty had been made in reliance on Justice Marshall’s earlier representations as to the maximum sentence. Though we do not discredit Williams' and his attorney's testimony at the hearing before Judge Curtin that they were not aware that Williams could have moved to withdraw his plea, neither can we fault Judge Curtin’s conclusion that their silence during this period suggests that accurate information would not have affected their initial plea decision.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 506 F. Supp. 626 - Black v. Coombe

3. “was in the best position to make the difficult determination of whether [Jackson] would have pleaded guilty had he been given accurate sentencing information. Findings of this sort 'relate to such intangibles as motivation and intent [and] depend especially upon the credibility assessments made by those who see and hear the witnesses.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 565 So. 2d 669 - Jackson v. State