State v. Roberts’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
10 federal appellate · 83 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 96 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently November 2014 · most notably Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez (2007), State v. Grim (1993)
10 federal appellate · 83 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
Relies on Caldwell v. Mississippi · Enmund v. Florida · Lockhart v. McCree · Jones v. Howard · Bowsher v. Merck & Co.
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 96 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Those imprisoned for violating our laws have cast upon the state both the expense of, and the responsibility for, their safe care while in confinement. We have always held the state to the highest standards in the exercise of that responsibility. Those for whom the state must bear responsibility should be held to an equally high standard of conduct. We are unaware of either sound reason or social policy for excusing the senseless killing of either fellow prisoners or corrections officers.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrencee.g. State v. Smith · State v. O'NEAL““Instruction No. 5 A person is responsible for his own conduct and he is also responsible for the conduct of other persons in committing an offense if he acts with them with the common purpose of committing that offense, or if, for the purpose of committing that offense, he aids or encourages the other persons in committing it. If you find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt: First, that on or about September 7, 1985, in the County of Jasper, State of Missouri, the defendant or Mike Hensley or David Tygart caused the death of Don Tracy by shooting and drowning him, and Second, that the defendant or Mike Hensley or David Tygart were aware that their conduct was practically certain to cause the death of Don Tracy, and Third, that the defendant or Mike Hensley or David Tygart did so after deliberation, which means cool reflection upon the matter for any length of time no matter how brief, then you are instructed that the offense of Murder in the First Degree has occurred, and if you further find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt: Fourth, that with the purpose of promoting or furthering the death of Don Tracy, the defendant acted together with or aided Mike Hensley or David Tygart in causing the death of Don Tracy and did so after deliberation, then you will find the defendant guilty of Murder in the First Degree. However, if you do not find and believe from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt each and all of these propositions, you mu”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrencee.g. State v. Seddens · State v. Roberts“[M]y plea to you is not a plea to kill Roy Roberts____ All I want you to do is give [the] Judge ... the right to find out the background of this guy so, in fact, if it is justified he can do it____ I am not asking you to put Roy Roberts to death. I am just asking you to give the Judge the .opportunity to study it and make a conscious well thought out decision about what is fair and just.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrencee.g. Roberts v. Bowersox
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.