State v. Tatum’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Defendant Tatum appeals a jury conviction of murder in the first degree, § 565.003, RSMo 1978. In accordance with the jury’s verdict, the trial court sentenced Tatum to life imprisonment. We find no reversible error and we affirm the judgment. The facts are as follows: On May 21, 1981, at approximately 7:00 a.m., an apartment manager discov ered Marcile Cunningham dead in the victim’s Kansas City, Missouri apartment with a bloody rag stuffed in her mouth. The victim was last seen alive the previous evening. The police arrived soon thereafter and collected evidence. An autopsy revealed that the 72-year-old victim died from blunt force injuries to the head and asphyxiation caused by blood in her airway and the rag in her mouth. The victim’s body was extensively bruised, and her nose and jaw were fractured. Prior to the victim's death, the attacker bound her wrists with the telephone cord. There were indications of a struggle. On June 4, 1981, Kansas City, Kansas police arrested the defendant for unrelated offenses. Pursuant to the arrest, the Kansas City, Kansas officers took the defendant’s clothing and several items from his person, including a knife. Thereafter, they summoned police and forensic examiners from Kansas City, Missouri to examine the belongings seized from the defendant. The examiners conducted tests on several of the items. As a result of these tests, the Kansas City, Missouri police obtained a search warrant to seize the defendant’s knife, shoes and a pair of ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 669 F. Supp. 1496 - Tatum v. Armontrout