Ex Parte Easter’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

25 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““did then and there unlawfully commit and attempt to commit a felony, namely, injury to a child, and in the course of and in the furtherance of the commission and attempt, the defendant did commit and attempt to commit acts clearly dangerous to human life which did cause the death of Kimberly Easter, hereafter styled the complainant, namely, striking the complainant, an infant, with his hands and fists, choking the complainant with his hands, and by throwing and dropping the complainant on the floor and by using other instruments and means against the complainant unknown to the grand jury.” The court, in Easter, supra, concluded: “The felony murder rule as now embodied in the present penal code dispenses with inquiry into the mens rea accompanying the homicide itself. The underlying felony — here the injury to a child— supplies the necessary culpable mental state. The indictment was not fundamentally defective so as to be susceptible to challenge for the first time in a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus. Ex parte Bailey, 600 S.W.2d 331, 332 (Tex.Cr.App.1980). See also Garrett v. State, 573 S.W.2d [543] at 545 [ (Tex.Cr.App.1978) ]; Rodriguez v. State, 548 S.W.2d at p. 28.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Aguirre v. State · Lugo-Lugo v. State

2. “[C]ommits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Flores v. State · Lugo-Lugo v. State

3. “Petitioner sets out his contentions in concise form in his memorandum supporting his application for the writ, saying: “First, the state proceeded against petitioner only on the [third] count of the indictment invoking the felony murder doctrine, V.T.C.A., Penal Code sec. 19.02(a)(3). Second, the acts charged in the indictment as constituting the predicate felony, ‘injury to a child’ (V.T.C.A. Penal Code sec. 22.04) were the same acts that the state alleged caused the death of petitioner’s daughter. Finally, the court instructed the jury that the felony offense of ‘injury to a child’ may be committed with criminal negligence and that that offense would support a conviction of murder under the definition of felony murder in Penal Code sec. 19.02(a)(3).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Berghahn v. State