Lufkins v. Solem’s Empirical Analysis
716 F.2d 532 · 1983
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 9 state decisions
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 2254 (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996)
Relies on Wainwright v. Sykes · Townsend v. Sain · Jackson v. Denno · Picard v. Connor · Sumner v. Mata
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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Other than the incriminating statement, the only evidence of guilt was the testimony of three companions who purportedly witnessed Lufkins hit the decedent with an axe handle on the evening of December 4, 1979. However, as empha sized by the district court, these witnesses were not particularly reliable because they had been drinking heavily from the early hours of December 4, and they had difficulty recalling the events of that evening. Furthermore, apart from the prejudice caused by counsel’s failure to challenge the admission of the incriminating statement, counsel undercut Lufkins’ trial defense by failing to sequester these three eyewitnesses so that they could not listen to one another’s testimony. We believe this was further evidence of counsel’s prejudicial failure to exercise his professional judgment in his client’s behalf.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. State v. Lufkins
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.