Hart v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

26 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “as a result of mental disease or defect, there is a reasonable doubt as to the existence of a culpable mental state that is an element of the crime.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Barrett v. State · Lord v. State

2. “At the time of the alleged offense, I believe Mr. Washington could appreciate the nature and quality of his act and had the capacity to form a culpable state of mind, specifically the intent to shoot the police officer.” Dr. Sperbeck concluded: With respect to his culpability at the time of the offense, it is my opinion that the defendant intended to murder Officer Mizelle through his actions. In spite of the fact that he was hallucinating auditorily and possibly even visually, he knew that the officer was a human being, he knew that his gun was capable of destruction, and he knew it was wrong and would result in trouble if he fired his gun, and in particular, fired his gun at an individual and hurt him. In spite of the fact that the defendant’s mental capacities were diminished due to his acute psychosis at the time of this offense, he, nonetheless, achieved his conscious objective of killing the officer, as he was ordered to by the voices he was hearing in his mind at the time. . See footnote 1, supra, Washington argues that the medical evidence supports a conclusion that his capacity to form specific intent was diminished. In advancing this argument, he apparently refers to Dr. Sperbeck’s report, which does mention that Washington’s mental illness rendered him "sufficiently impaired to constitute a diminished capacity.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Washington v. State

3. “INSTRUCTION NO. 20 A person is “unable to appreciate the nature and quality of her conduct” for purposes of the insanity defense if, because of mental disease or defect, she did not understand that she was performing the physical acts which are part of the crime of which she is charged. In this case, the defendant has been charged with threatening another person with a gun in an attempt to take his money. If you find beyond a reasonable doubt that she did this, but if you also find that because of mental disease or defect she did not understand that she was threatening another human being or did not understand that she was demanding money from him, then the defendant would be legally insane under this definition and your verdict should be “not guilty by reason of insanity.” However, if the defendant did in fact understand the basic nature and quality of her conduct — that she was threatening another person in an attempt to obtain his money — then the defendant would not be entitled to a verdict of “not guilty by reason of insanity,” even though her reason for doing this might have resulted from a delusion caused by a mental disease or defect. INSTRUCTION NO. 21 To “appreciate the nature and quality” of an act means to fully understand or comprehend the act.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Patterson v. State