People v. Cage’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

40 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he trial court's failure to [instruct] the jury that there is a presumption of life does not violate a defendant's constitutional rights to due process, to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, to a reliable determination of his sentence, and to equal protection of the law under the Fifth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the federal Constitution.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 6 Cal. 5th 318 - People v. Miracle · 4 Cal. 5th 1 - People v. Henriquez

2. “California's death penalty law does not violate equal protection by treating capital and noncapital defendants differently.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 4 Cal. 5th 485 - People v. Garton · 7 Cal. 5th 561 - People v. Mitchell

3. “We again conclude that the instruction is 'not unconstitutional for failing to inform the jury that: (a) death must be the appropriate penalty, not just a warranted penalty [citation]; (b) [a sentence of life without the possibility of parole] is required, if it finds that the mitigating circumstances outweigh those in aggravation [citation] or that the aggravating circumstances do not outweigh those in mitigation [citation]; (c) [a sentence of life without the possibility of parole] may be imposed even if the aggravating circumstances outweigh those in mitigation [citation]; (d) neither party bears the burden of persuasion on the penalty determination [citation].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 4 Cal. 5th 485 - People v. Garton