Isaac v. Engle’s Empirical Analysis
646 F.2d 1129 · 1980
Citation profile
21 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 37 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently December 2020 · most notably Engle v. Isaac (1982), Engle v. Isaac (1981)
21 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)
Relies on In the Matter of Samuel Winship · Wainwright v. Sykes · Mullaney v. Wilbur · Linkletter v. Walker · Snyder v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The Court instructs you that when the Defendant entered her plea of Not Guilty to the Indictment and any lesser included offenses, that put in issue all of the essential elements of the crimes charged, and, thereby, places upon the State the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. In addition to the plea of Not Guilty, the Defendant also asserts what is called an affirmative defense, in this case Self-Defense. The burden of proving the defense of Self-Defense is upon the Defendant, and that burden upon the Defendant is to establish such affirmative defense by a preponderance of the evidence. Preponderance of the evidence is the greater weight of the evidence, that is, evidence that you believe because it outweighs or overbalances the evidence opposed to it. ****** If you find the State proved beyond a reasonable doubt all of the essential elements of the crime of Aggravated Murder or a lesser included offense, and the Defendant failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence the defense of Self-Defense, then your verdict must be Guilty. If you find that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any one of the essential elements of the crime of Aggravated Murder or the lesser included offense, or if you find the Defendant proved by a preponderance of the evidence the defense of Self-Defense, then you must find the Defendant Not Guilty.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. White v. Arn“The defense of self-defense as defined in the charge to the jury at Isaac’s trial does not negate an element of the crime of felonious assault or aggravated assault as such are defined in Ohio Revised Code § 2903.11 and § 2903.12. This is true since one could act knowingly (felonious assault) or knowingly and while under extreme emotional distress brought on by serious provocation reasonably sufficient to incite him into using deadly force (aggravated assault), and yet act in self-defense.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Thomas v. Arn“In a criminal case involving the affirmative defense of self-defense, the defendant has only the burden of going forward with evidence of a nature and quality sufficient to raise that defense, and does not have the burden of establishing such defense by a preponderance of the evidence.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. Thomas v. Arn
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.