Tennon III v. Ricketts’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 2 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) A person is guilty of murder in the first degree when: n (a) With a premeditated intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of such person or of a third person ...” The trial court's instruction to the jury on the petitioner's claim of self-defense was as follows: "When a defendant claims that he killed another in self-defense of his own person or property, the burden is upon that defendant to prove that the homicide was done in self-defense. It is not necessary for the defendant to prove this to you beyond a reasonable doubt nor by a preponderance of the evidence. The defendant sustains his burden of proof, if, from a consideration of all the evidence in the case, you have a reasonable doubt as to whether or not the injuries inflicted were done in self-defense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 98 Wash. 2d 484 - State v. McCullum

2. “When and if a killing is proved to your satisfaction to be the intentional act of the defendant, himself, the presumption of innocence with which he enters upon the trial is removed from him. And, the burden is upon him to justify or mitigate the homicide, unless the evidence introduced against him shows justification or mitigation ....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 584 F. Supp. 1052 - Dix v. Newsome