United States v. Bieri’s Empirical Analysis
68 F.3d 232 · 1995
Citation profile
10 federal appellate · 5 district · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 35 later decisions — most recently April 2020 · most notably United States v. Dodge Caravan Grand SE/Sport Van, VIN # 1B4GP44G2YB7884560 (2004), MacLean v. State Board of Retirement (2000)
10 federal appellate · 5 district · 5 state decisions
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
Applies 21 U.S.C. § 853 (§ 413 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Austin v. United States · Sowashee Venture v. EB, Inc. · Dennis v. Dennis · Alexander v. United States · Woodcock v. Chemical Bank
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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“the defendant has the initial burden of making a prima facie showing of 'gross disproportionality.' " Second, " 'the [E]ighth [A]mendment demands that a constitutionally cognizable disproportionality reach such a level of excessiveness that in justice the punishment is more criminal than the crime.' " 10 To determine whether the facts indicate gross disproportionality, the district court must consider multiple factors, including the extent and duration of the criminal conduct, the gravity of the offense weighed against the severity of the criminal sanction, and the value of the property forfeited. "Other helpful inquiries might include an assessment of the personal benefit reaped by the defendant, the defendant's motive and culpability and, of course, the extent that the defendant's interest and the enterprise itself are tainted by criminal conduct.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“reach[es] such a level of excessiveness that injustice the punishment is more criminal than the crime.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“We conclude that the dicta in [United States v. One Parcel of Real Property Located at 9638] Chicago Heights[, St. Louis, 27 F.3d 327 (8th Cir.1994) ] enumerating intangible factors, including the property’s character as a residence or the effect of forfeiture on innocent occupants and children, may be relevant to the Eighth Amendment analysis in some cases. This may be true in civil in rem forfeiture cases where the owner has not been convicted of any crime. See United States v. Real Property at 6625 Zumirez Drive, 845 F.Supp. 725 (C.D.Cal.1994) (forfeiture of residence was found to be excessive where property owner was acquitted of state criminal drug charges). However, especially in criminal in personam forfeiture, the property’s character as a residence and the effect of forfeiture on innocent occupants are factors whose importance diminishes as the duration and extent of the defendant’s culpability and use of the property to facilitate criminal conduct rises.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.