659 So. 2d 242 - Gamble v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 17 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Guy R. Gamble and Michael Love murdered their landlord, Helmut Kuehl, by striking him several times in the head with a claw hammer and choking him with a cord. [Approximately six days before the murder[,] Gamble told his girlfriend that he was going to “take out” Kuehl. The day before the murder he instructed his girlfriend to pack their belongings because they would be leaving town. He also had her sit at a table pretending to write a rent receipt, whereupon he would sneak up behind her and practice choking her with a cord. The day of the murder Gamble picked up his final paycheck and returned home, where he and Love gathered money to use as a guise for rent payment. They approached Kuehl, who was sitting in his garage, engaged him in conversation, and asked for a rent receipt. When Kuehl went to his apartment to obtain the receipt, Love searched the garage for a weapon, found a claw hammer, and placed it on a counter. Kuehl returned to the garage, Gamble picked up the claw hammer and struck Kuehl in the head with such force that Kuehl fell to the floor. Gamble then got on top of Kuehl, held him down, and instructed Love to shut the garage doors. After shutting the doors, Love took the claw hammer and proceeded to repeatedly strike Kuehl in the head. After the hitting ceased, Love wrapped a cord around Kuehl’s neck and began choking him. Gamble stated that there was no reason to choke their victim and urged that they just leave him. Gamble then wrapped the hammer and cord in”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Gamble v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections · 877 So. 2d 706 - Gamble v. State

2. “[t]hese facts, which speak for themselves, completely support the trial court's finding of cold, calculated, and premeditated.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 704 So. 2d 107 - Gordon v. State · 877 So. 2d 706 - Gamble v. State

3. “One of [Gamble's] non-statutory mitigating factors given "some" weight was Love's sentence of life. Gamble asserts that his jury would have also recommended a life sentence if it had been informed of Love's sentence. Gamble proffers that this factor singlehandedly requires a sentence reduction. We disagree. Love's sentence was based on a guilty plea entered after Gamble's penalty phase proceedings. Clearly the Gamble trial judge was not required to postpone Gamble's sentencing and await Love's plea and sentence. We refuse to speculate as to what may have occurred had the Gamble jury been made aware of the posture of Love's case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 704 So. 2d 107 - Gordon v. State