Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

47 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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “During cross-examination of Johnson's mental health experts, the prosecutor asked if they had considered Johnson's past illegal drug use in making their assessments of him. Johnson waived the statutory mitigator of having no prior criminal history and now argues that the prosecutor should have been precluded from questioning his witnesses about their knowledge of his prior criminal history. Again, we disagree with his contention. We have held "that it is proper for a party to fully inquire into the history utilized by the expert to determine whether the expert's opinion has a proper basis." Parker v. State, 476 So.2d 134, 139 (Fla. 1985); Muehleman [ v. State, 503 So.2d 310 (Fla. 1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 882 108 S.Ct. 39 , 98 L.Ed.2d 170 (1987)]. The prosecutor's questions and the experts' answers explored the bases for those experts' opinions and rebutted their conclusions that Johnson's inability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law and his being under extreme mental or emotional distress developed shortly before Johnson committed these crimes. Thus, these questions were relevant, and the trial court did not err in allowing them to be asked and answered.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 612 So. 2d 1370 - Jones v. State · 614 So. 2d 1111 - Gore v. State

2. “There was too much purposeful conduct for the court to have given any significant weight to Johnson's alleged drug intoxication, a self-imposed disability that the facts show not to have been a mitigator in this case.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 878 So. 2d 1246 - Douglas v. State · 804 So. 2d 1173 - Bowles v. State

3. “The primary allegation is that counsel failed to present evidence of organic brain damage to the jury. A review of the record indicates that the defendant was evaluated by three mental health experts, Doctors McClane, Afield and Ainesworth. All three men are psychiatrists. The doctors indicated that they had reviewed the case file, taken a medical and life history from the defendant, and had reviewed some materials furnished by defense counsel. While the doctors disagreed as to whether the defendant met the legal test for insanity, all three agreed that the defendant suffered from a severe mental or emotional disturbance due to amphetamine intoxication and that his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was impaired. At the evidentiary hearing, Dr. Brad Fisher, a clinical forensic psychologist, testified for the defendant. Dr. Fisher evaluated the defendant almost 15 years after the crimes occurred. He met with the defendant two times, reviewed the case file, school, prison and police records of the defendant and met with the defendant's mother and brother. Dr. Fisher testified that he did not disagree with the mental health experts who testified at the 1988 trial. He believes that the defendant suffers from toxic psychosis and did so during the crimes. His opinion is that the defendant suffered from an extreme mental disturbance and his ability to conform his conduct to the requirements of law was substantially impaired. The only difference in Dr. Fisher's”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Johnson v. State