595 So. 2d 929 - Hodges v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 20 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We then must determine whether the admission was harmless error. On the day of the homicide Hodges was scheduled for a pretrial diversion interview on the indecent exposure charge which had been initiated by the victim’s complaint. On' that date, but sometime after the homicide, Hodges called the mediator of the Community Mediation Program, told her there was no reason for him to come through diversion, and asked for the case to be sent back to the state attorney’s office. Thus, it appears clear that Hodges knew of his continued prosecution. The victim’s statements of her desire to continue prosecution become cumulative and could not have, in and of themselves, been a critical factor in the jury’s deliberation. We, therefore, conclude that admitting the detectives’ testimony was harmless error.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hodges v. Attorney General · 885 So. 2d 338 - Hodges v. State

2. “A further word about the prosecutor's argument is needed, however. In attempting to persuade the jury that life imprisonment would not be appropriate, Hodges' prosecutor made the same argument made in several other capital cases. E.g., Taylor v. State, 583 So.2d 323 (Fla.1991); Hudson v. State, 538 So.2d 829 (Fla.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 875 , 110 S.Ct. 212 , 107 L.Ed.2d 165 (1989); Jackson v. State, 522 So.2d 802 (Fla.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 871 , 109 S.Ct. 183 , 102 L.Ed.2d 153 (1988). In Hudson we summarily dismissed the issue because Hudson had not objected and the argument did not constitute reversible error in that case. In both Jackson and Taylor we held that the instant argument was improper and, because on the circumstances of Taylor the argument was not harmless error and had been objected to, vacated Taylor's sentence and ordered resentencing. In Jackson , on the other hand, we found the argument harmless. The instant case is closer to Hudson and Jackson than to Taylor. Hodges did not object to the prosecutor's argument and on the circumstances of his case we find the argument harmless error.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 885 So. 2d 338 - Hodges v. State

3. “What about life imprisonment? What can a person do in jail for life? You can cry. You can read. You can watch T.V. You can listen to the radio. You can talk to people. In short, you are alive. People want to live. You are living. All right? If [the victim] had had a choice between spending life in prison or lying on that pavement in her own blood, what choice would [she] have made? But, you see, [she] didn't have that choice. Now why? Because George Michael Hodges decided for himself, for himself, that [she] should die.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 885 So. 2d 338 - Hodges v. State