People v. Lopez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 127 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 136 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘[T]he trial judge must recognize that the first ground of appeal is probably going to be that the defendant was allowed to represent himself without having intelligently and voluntarily made that decision. Such are the facts of life. Therefore, pragmatically, and defensively, in addition to the legal necessity of establishing that a defendant voluntarily and intelligently reached this decision, the trial court should also protect itself—and the record.’ ” (Emphasis added).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Leonard v. State · Johnson v. State

2. “[T]he prosecution will be represented by an experienced professional counsel who, in turn, will give him no quarter because he does not happen to have the same skills and experience as the professional. In other words, from the standpoint of professional skill, training, education, experience, and ability, it will definitely not be a fair fight. It would be Joe Louis vs. a cripple, or Jack Nicklaus vs. a Sunday hacker.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Watson · United States v. Hayes

3. “[i]f there is any question in the court's mind as to a defendant's mental capacity it would appear obvious that a rather careful inquiry into that subject should be made — probably by way of a psychiatric examination.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 3 Cal. 5th 961 - People v. Daniels · 180 Cal. App. 3d 469 - People v. Powell