State v. Murphy’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “may be inferred from the actions of the defendant or from surrounding circumstances.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Colwell · State v. Hester

2. ““[T]he ‘intended for use' language applies to the state of mind of the individual charged with the offense of selling, distributing, or displaying drug paraphernalia[.]” . . . [T]he definitional section itself... requires proof of the defendant’s intent. Once the definitional section is so read, [the] further argument that [the prohibitions section] which makes it “unlawful for any person to traffic in or furnish drug paraphernalia, knowing, or under circumstances where one reasonably should know” that it will be used for illegal drug purposes, permits conviction on a negligence standard looses [sic] its foundation. This is because in view of the definitional section — which, as interpreted, renders an item in a seller’s hands drug paraphernalia only if the seller intends it to be used with scheduled drugs — constructive knowledge of the buyer’s purpose alone is not enough for conviction: In the context of an alleged sale or delivery of drug paraphernalia, the Act requires the state to prove both (1) that the defendant intended that an item would be used for the production or consumption of controlled substances and also (2) that he [or she] either knew, or that he [or she] acted in a set of circumstances from which a reasonable person would know, that the buyer of the item would thereafter use it for those purposes. So-called constructive knowledge thus has significance only in a situation where the defendant is selling or delivering items that he intends to be used to produ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Sun Na Lee

3. “In a facial challenge to the overbreadth and vagueness of a law, a court’s first task is to determine whether the enactment reaches a substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct. If it does not, then the overbreadth challenge must fail. The court should then examine the facial vagueness challenge and, assuming the enactment implicates no constitutionally protected conduct, should uphold the challenge only if the enactment is impermissibly vague in all of its applications. A plaintiff who engages in conduct that is clearly proscribed cannot complain of the vagueness of the law as applied to the conduct of others.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Archambeau