608 So. 2d 314 - Butler v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

66 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 73 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When an accused exercises his or her constitutional right not to testify, the circuit judge must see that the State makes no direct or indirect comment on this fact. Though painful, the responsibility and duty of a circuit judge when such a comment is made is to declare a mistrial on the spot. Such celerity on the circuit judge’s part will not only have a salutary effect, but promote judicial economy in sparing this Court the task of the inevitable reversal.”

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hill v. State · Taylor v. State

2. “If Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-19 (2)(f) required, in order to convict, that the killing have been intentional, then clearly Butler would have been entitled to a manslaughter instruction based on Miss. Code Ann. § 97-3-27 as a lesser included offense, the only ingredient lacking being intent. Should she be deprived of such instruction when the statutes, as in this case, are for all intents and purposes identical? Mease v. State, 539 So.2d 1324, 1329-30 (Miss. 1989); see also Mackbee v. State, 575 So.2d 16, 23 (Miss. 1990); Harper v. State, 478 So.2d 1017, 1021 (Miss. 1985). It is well established that when there are two separate criminal statutes for the same offense, the State has a choice of deciding the statute under which to prosecute. Rowland v. State, 531 So.2d 627, 631-32 (Miss. 1988); Craig v. State, 520 So.2d 487, 491 (Miss. 1988); Cumbest v. State, 456 So.2d 209, 223 (Miss. 1984). It is also settled that in such cases the accused is not entitled to have the jury instructed on the statute carrying the lesser penalty. Identical offenses do not authorize the lesser included offense instructions. Rowland, 531 So.2d at 631-32 . We do not depart from these principles in the general run of criminal prosecutions. In this case, however, we have a defendant who, under the capital murder statute, was sentenced to death when there was another criminal statute for the same offense with the maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Compare Miss. Code Ann. §§ 97-3-25 (1972), 97-3-2”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jackson v. State · 704 So. 2d 1307 - Kolberg v. State

3. “The killing of a human being without malice, by the act, procurement, or culpable negligence of another, while such other is engaged in the perpetration of any felony, except rape, burglary, arson, or robbery, or while such other is attempting to commit any felony besides such as are above enumerated and excepted, shall be manslaughter.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lockett v. State · Jackson v. State