663 So. 2d 975 - Sims v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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. “"Owens has articulately stated the case for joining the majority of states that allow for multiple convictions when more than one person is injured as the result of a single act. Adoption of the majority view would place Alabama among those states that have recognized that punishment for a criminal act should be commensurate with the act itself and the injury caused by that criminal act. Absent statutory or constitutional obstacles to the adoption of the majority view, logic and reason persuade us to henceforth apply the principle that a single criminal act that causes injury to more than one person may constitute more than one offense and may support more than one prosecution and conviction. "The Court of Criminal Appeals was, correct in reversing McKinney's convictions and in ordering a new trial. As stated herein, however, we also hold that henceforth §§ 13A-1-8(b) and 15-3-8 will allow more than one prosecution and conviction when more than one person is injured as a result of a single criminal act."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 14 So. 3d 188 - Glass v. State · 973 So. 2d 380 - Brooks v. State

2. “"Under Rule 44, the appellant's prior convictions could have been proved by a copy of the prior convictions certified by the attestation of the deputy clerk, if the State had submitted along with this copy `a certificate under oath of such person that he is the legal custodian of such record and that the laws of the State require the record to be kept.'"”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Thigpen v. State · Wood v. State

3. ““A person commits the crime of robbery in the first degree if, in the course of committing a theft, he or she uses force against the owner of the property or any person present with intent to overcome his physical resistance or physical power of resistance, or threatens the imminent use of force against the owner of the property or any person present with intent to compel acquiescence to the taking of or escaping with the property, and he or she is armed with a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument or causes serious physical injury to another. §§ 13A-8-41 and 13A-8-43, Ala.Code 1975. A person commits the crime of murder if, -with intent to cause the death of another person, he or she causes the death of that person or of another person. Both robbery and murder are crimes against the person, and they both fall into the final two categories of statutes referred to in McKinney and R. Owens, Alabama’s Minority Status: A Single Criminal Act Injuring Multiple Persons Constitutes Only a Single Offense, 16 Cum.L.Rev. 85 (1985— 86), that allow multiple convictions when multiple victims are involved. Likewise, capital murder during a robbery also falls into the category of statutes allowing multiple convictions when multiple victims are involved. Section 13A-5-40(a)(2) defines capital murder during a robbery as ‘[m]urder by the defendant during a robbery in the first degree or an attempt thereof committed by the defendant.’ (Emphasis added.) The use of the indefinite article ‘a’ in des”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 99 So. 3d 1265 - McKinnis v. State