Lyttle v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In this case, the evidence showed that Jones, who outweighed Takash by about fifty pounds, pushed Takash to the floor. Jones then punched him in the chest twice to “get [the] wind out of him.” Jones placed his hands on Takash’s neck in an effort “to render him unconscious.” Jones “readjusted” his hands to a place higher under Takash’s chin and “leaned up into it” with his weight. According to Jones, he “let go” and “there was blood visible on [Takash’s] lips.” Air bubbles then passed through the blood as Jones removed his hands. Expert testimony indicated that Ta-kash would have lost consciousness after ten to fifteen seconds, but he would have died only after an additional period of oxygen deprivation, up to two minutes. By Jones’s own admission, he applied his body as a pressure weight until Takash was unconscious and he let go only when blood and air bubbles were expressed through Takash’s mouth. Upon observing Takash’s nonresponsive state, Jones did not summon help or attempt to revive Takash but rather took his money and vehicle and fled. One “knowingly” kills when he is “aware of a high probability” that his conduct might kill. Here, as in Horan and Lyttle , the protracted nature of the conduct is such that Jones could not have been without an awareness that his actions could result in Takash’s death. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by finding no serious evidentiary dispute; the Reckless Homicide instruction was properly refused.”

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

2. “with a plain, conscious, and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result and is a substantial deviation from accepted standards of conduct.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Racxon Cruze McDowell v. State of Indiana

3. “to engage in conduct with an awareness that the conduct has a high probability of resulting in death.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Racxon Cruze McDowell v. State of Indiana