State v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis
1981
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 51 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 63 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2007 · most notably Thomas v. Arn (1986), State v. Kelly (1984)
6 federal appellate · 51 state decisions — followed in 12 states
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
Relies on Frye v. United States · State v. Williams · State v. Robbins · Hutton v. United States · McKay Machine Co. v. Rodman
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 63 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Expert testimony on the “battered wife syndrome” by a psychiatric social worker to support defendant’s claim of self-defense is inadmissible herein because (1) it is irrelevant and immaterial to the issue of whether defendant acted in self-defense at the time of the shooting; (2) the subject of the expert testimony is within the understanding of the jury; (3) the “battered wife syndrome” is not sufficiently developed, as a matter of commonly accepted scientific knowledge, to warrant testimony under the guise of expertise; and (4) its prejudicial impact outweighs its probative value.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage““In a trial such as this one, where the evidence raises an issue of self-defense, the only admissible evidence pertaining to that defense is evidence which establishes that defendant had a bona-fide belief she was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that the only means of escape from such danger was through the use of deadly force.” (Emphasis added.)”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“admission of expert testimony regarding the battered woman syndrome does not establish a new defense or justification. Rather, it is to assist the trier of fact determine [sic] whether the defendant [killed] out of an honest belief that she was in imminent danger or death or great bodily harm and that such force was her only means of escape.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.