Commonwealth v. Vandivner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 59 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 63 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Jessica Cable and her mother Michelle Cable lived at 100 East Second Street, Grindstone, Fayette County. On July 5, 2004, Jessica was babysitting at a neighbor’s home. Between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m., Jessica saw [Ajppellant driving in the direction of her home and immediately ran home. When she arrived, she saw [Ajppellant get out of his vehicle and walk to the back porch of her home. As Jessica followed, [Ajppellant entered the home through the back door and, while walking through the home, encountered a family friend, Larry Newman, in the living room. Appellant asked Larry where Michelle was, and Larry pointed to the front door. Appellant then opened the door and walked onto the sun porch. On the steps leading to the sun porch from the outside, [Ajppellant met Michelle and her son, Billy Cable. As [Ajppellant walked onto the porch, Billy told him, “Dude, get off my property.” Notes of Testimony (“N.T.”), 2/7/07, at 36. Appellant then pointed a gun at Michelle, at which point, Billy pounced on [Ajppellant in an attempt to wrestle the gun from his hand. Appellant managed to keep the gun and pointed it at Larry Newman’s head. Larry’s relative, Kenneth Newman, then rushed [Ajppellant, and the gun fired. Appellant, who still had the gun, walked quickly to Michelle and told her he was going to kill her. He grabbed her by the hair, shot her in the head, and, as she fell to the ground, stated, “There, you bitch, I said I was going to kill you.” Id. at 39. Appellant smiled and walked aw”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Vandivner, J., Aplt. · Commonwealth v. Vandivner, J., Aplt.

2. “[Ajppellant argues that it would constitute cruel and unusual punishment to subject him to the death penalty simply because he can present no IQ testing from his school years. Appellant contends that his present limitations, whether or not they began prior to age eighteen, should render him ineligible for the death penalty. His argument, in essence, is that a murderer who is mentally deficient to the same extent as a murderer who has been found to be mentally retarded should be similarly exempt from capital punishment. The trial court rejected this claim, finding that there is no national consensus that mentally deficient individuals should be entitled to the same exemption as those found to be mentally retarded. In addition, the court noted that the Atkins Court made it clear that not all defendants who claim to be mentally retarded fall within the range of mentally retarded offenders about whom there exists a national consensus against capital punishment. Atkins, 536 U.S. at 317 , 122 S.Ct. 2242 . [[Image here]] To the extent [Ajppellant raises this issue under the Eighth Amendment, we would not be inclined, in the absence of legislative direction, to extend Atkins beyond its express command. Atkins imposed a national rule upon all of the States, removing the authority to impose the death penalty upon a narrow class of capital defendants. Notably, however, the High Court did not establish a national standard for mental retardation, thus recognizing (and implicitly approving”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Vandivner, J., Aplt.

3. “the school records ... do not identify [Appellant] as mentally retarded. Further, there is no indicia that [Appellant] was placed in special education for mental retardation. Frazier School District Special Education Supervisor Ann Peters testified at the pre-trial hearings that, at the time [Appellant] was in school, there was no formalized procedure for placement in special education. Moreover, the sister of [Appellant], Mildred Patton, who is functioning normally, testified that she was placed into special education with her brother because of behavioral problems, not mental retardation. Thus, there is no evidence that [Appellant] was placed in special education because he was mentally retarded. [Appellant] may have been placed in special education for a number of reasons, including poor attendance or behavior problems. Similarly, [Appellant’s] poor grades may reflect his poor attendance rather than any mental impairments or learning disabilities. [Appellant] failed to present any other school records, social services records, or other psychological records to prove that his mental retardation originated before age 18.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Vandivner, J., Aplt.