Shaw v. Wilson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 federal appellate · 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The state’s argument, however, misses the point that Shaw is making. Shaw is not asking (and has no reason to ask) that we second-guess an Indiana court on the meaning of Section 35-34-1-5. Shaw is making a simpler point: a competent lawyer in Indiana should have recognized that there was a state statute under which relief for his client was possible and would have pursued that theory on appeal. An argument about the validity of the state’s effort to amend the indictment would have been materially stronger than the frivolous sufficiency-of-the-evidence point that [counsel] raised. With that much accepted, there is no further role for the federal judiciary: whether the Indiana appellate court would have been persuaded, or if not, whether the Indiana Supreme Court would have granted transfer, is immaterial. The state’s argument that even this kind of comparative assessment is out of bounds, if accepted, would foreclose federal review of almost any ineffectiveness claim that rests on an attorney’s mishandling of a state-law issue, no matter how egregiously deficient the attorney’s performance. It is well established that a defense attorney’s failure to raise a state-law issue can constitute ineffectiveness.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Miller v. Zatecky · Jones v. Zatecky

2. “Shaw is entitled to a new direct appeal. Should Indiana choose to grant this relief, instead of releasing Shaw outright, the Indiana appellate courts will be free to consider all pertinent issues of state law at that time. Because [appellate counsel’s] performance was deficient and Shaw suffered prejudice as a result, the decision of the district court is VACATED and the case is REMANDED with instructions to issue a writ of habeas - corpus unless the State of Indiana grants Shaw a new appeal within 120 days after issuance of the mandate..”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Troy Shaw v. State of Indiana · Troy R. Shaw v. State of Indiana

3. “[W]e are making a comparative inquiry about counsel’s choices; we are not resolving any issue of state law, and we are not telling the Indiana judiciary how it should approach this issue. Prejudice exists, however, if counsel bypassed an nonfrivolous argument that, if successful, would have resulted in the vacation of Shaw’s conviction (just as the conviction in Fajardo later was).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Miller v. Zatecky · Troy Shaw v. State of Indiana