Hendricks v. Calderon’s Empirical Analysis
70 F.3d 1032 · 1995
Citation profile
117 federal appellate · 7 district · 7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 201 later decisions — most recently May 2025 · most notably Lambert v. Blodgett (2004), Bean v. Calderon (1998)
117 federal appellate · 7 district · 7 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 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)
Relies on Strickland v. Washington · Lockhart v. Fretwell · 23 Cal. 3d 412 - People v. Pope · Halas v. Department of Energy · 25 Cal. 3d 142 - People v. Frierson
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 201 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[b]egging for mercy is not incompetence per se.... However, where counsel is on notice that his client may be mentally impaired, counsel's failure to investigate his client's mental condition as a mitigating factor in a penalty phase hearing, without a supporting strategic reason, constitutes deficient performance.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[T]he determination of whether to impose a death sentence is not an ordinary legal determination which turns on the establishment of hard facts. The statutory factors give the jury broad latitude to consider amorphous human factors, in effect, to weigh the worth of one’s life against his culpability. Presumably the imposition of a death sentence is entrusted to a jury because it is a uniquely moral decision in which bright line rules have a limited place. [Hendricks, supra 70 F.3d at 1044 .]”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The choice to pursue a bad strategy makes no comment on an attorney's judgment where no better choice exists.”
4 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.