State v. Simpson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The defendant’s next point is that the trial court erred in giving Instruction No. 5 and in refusing defendant’s proffered Instruction No. A. Instruction No. 5 is MAI-CR2d 2.12, modified by MAI-CR2d 23.52, submitting the offense of burglary in the second degree. It concludes with paragraphs directing the jury, if the defendant is found guilty, to assess and declare his punishment and giving the range of permissible punishments. The trial court also gave MAI-CR2d 2.60 which advised the range of the sentence the court might impose and included the following: “1. Imprisonment for a term fixed by the court, but not to exceed the term assessed and declared by the jury in its verdict .... ” Defendant’s proffered Instruction No. A was similar to Instruction No. 5, except it added a final paragraph stating, “[u]nder some circumstances the punishment you will assess is merely advisory, and the court may assess punishment.” Before the adoption of The Criminal Code, the defendant’s point would be applicable to second offenders only in the limited situations set forth in MAI-CR (First) 2.04, Notes on Use 3. Under the Criminal Code, the point could be applicable to all cases in which the defendant is a persistent offender or a dangerous offender. § 557.036, R.S.Mo. 1979, V.A.M.S. This is true even though a determination of whether or not the defendant is a persistent or dangerous offender is not made until after the verdict of the jury. [ 610 S.W.2d at 77 .]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Simpson v. Wyrick