Brown v. Thaler’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 federal appellate ·

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

1. “Rachel Tovar and her husband, Jose, were drag dealers in Houston, Texas. They supplied marijuana and cocaine to other drag dealers, including Brown and his associates, who were from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On June 19, 1992, Brown traveled from Tuscaloosa to Houston, accompanied by Marion Dudley, Antonio Dunson, and Maliek Travis. They arrived at the Houston residence of Brown’s sister, Grace, early in the morning on June 20. That evening, six people were bound and shot in the head at Rachel Tovar’s residence in Houston. Four of them died: Jessica Quinones, the pregnant common-law wife of Rachel Tovar’s son, Anthony; Jose Guadalupe Tovar, Rachel Tovar’s husband; Audrey Brown, one of Rachel Tovar’s neighbors; and Frank Farias, Rachel Tovar’s son. Rachel To-var and Alexander Camarillo, also known as Nicolas Cortez Anzures, survived and testified at Brown’s trial. Both of them identified Brown and Dudley, whom Tovar knew, from previous drug deals, by the nicknames of “Squirt” and “Red,” as the shooters. Three of Brown’s sisters — Serisa Ann Brown, Grace Brown, and Carolyn Momoh — testified as witnesses for the State at the guilt-innocence phase. All three of them claimed that the police and prosecutors had threatened them in order to coerce their cooperation. Carolyn Momoh was held in contempt and incarcerated at one point during the trial for invoking the Fifth Amendment, despite the fact that she had been given immunity. After she eventually testified, she was convicted of perjury”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brown v. Stephens

2. “Milstein stated that Brown’s mother, Joe Mae Brown, ... told Milstein that when Brown was three years old, he fell from a swing and struck his head on a cement porch. Mrs. Brown took him to a hospital, where the attending physician determined that he had a concussion. Milstein stated that Mrs. Brown told her that Brown had headaches two to three times a week for several months after the concussion, but they never took him for a follow-up visit with the doctor. Mrs. Brown also told Milstein that she was married to Brown’s father when Brown was born, but that they divorced when he was twelve years old; that during the marriage, Brown’s father beat her; that Brown was close to his father, and she started having problems with Brown after the divorce; and that Brown threatened to commit suicide by jumping out of a window at his school. According to Milstein, she did not learn of Brown’s mother’s history of alcohol abuse while interviewing Mrs. Brown, but learned of it later from interviews with other family members. Milstein stated that Brown’s sister, Seri-sa, told her that Mrs. Brown often went out drinking at night, leaving the children alone at home, and returning heavily intoxicated in the early morning. Sometimes when she returned home she woke the children and made them pray throughout the rest of the night. As a result, the children were frequently tired at school. According to Milstein, Grace Brown, another of Brown’s sisters, stated that Brown was exposed to his mother’s”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brown v. Stephens

3. “When a defendant challenges a death sentence such as the one at issue in this case, the question is whether there is a reasonable probability that, absent the errors, the sentencer ... would have concluded that the balance of aggravating and mitigating circumstances did not warrant death.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. Stirling