State v. Gilmore’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 100 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 113 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The only witness specifically identified was Dr. James Gilsanin, a professor of sociology, who was to testify as to the deterrent value of the death penalty. It is aphoristic that the sentencing phase of the trial is not designed to serve as a forum for a general debate on the attributes of capital punishment. The bifur- ' cated procedure was devised to avoid the imposition of the death sentence in an arbitrary and capricious manner. However, it is apparent from defendant’s motion that Dr. Gilsanin’s testimony would not have focused upon the specifics of the defendant’s case and, therefore, would not have assisted the jury in imposing a rational sentence. This Court has recognized that the death penalty serves the legitimate purposes of retribution and incapacitation, and the legislature may find that the penalty serves the purpose of deterrence. Therefore, the trial court’s decision to refuse funds for the employment of an expert witness, whose testimony was irrelevant to the issue at hand, was not erroneous. The fact that another trial court might have been more gratuitous in Leonard Laws’ case in permitting the presentation of Dr. Gilsanin’s testimony does not make the trial court’s ruling error in this instance, (citations omitted) (emphasis ours).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Griffin · Newlon v. State

2. “The declaration of a mistrial is a drastic remedy which should be granted only in those circumstances where the incident is so grievous that the prejudicial effect can be removed in no other way. We review the trial court’s decision not to declare a mistrial only for abuse of discretion. Ordinarily, the trial court acts within its discretion and cures error in the admission of evidence by withdrawing the improper evidence and instructing the jury to disregard it, rather than declaring a mistrial.”

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

3. “[r]eversal is not required in every instance in which the prosecutor steps beyond the boundary of proper argument.”

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