Moore v. Zant’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 5 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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The trial judge first instructed the jury that it “would be authorized to consider imposing a sentence of death” only if it found that a statutory aggravating circumstance existed beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial judge then instructed that if the jury did not find the existence of statutory aggravating circumstances, “the sentence would be imprisonment for life.” This instruction clearly expressed the need for a finding of statutory aggravating circumstances to establish eligibility for a capital sentence. The trial court then charged that in determining the appropriate sentence, the jury was “authorized to consider all of the evidence received” in both the trial and the sentencing hearing. This language clearly instructed the jury that it could impose a life sentence even if it found the presence of statutory aggravating circumstances; these factors merely authorized the death penalty in determining “what sentence is appropriate in each count.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Morgan v. Zant

2. “Thus, it appears that the prosecution properly presented evidence of characteristics of the victim to the jury. In the brief evidence taken, the prosecution did not undertake to demonstrate the racial, ethnic, or other forbidden characteristic of any party. We cannot say that the trial judge’s balancing of the relevancy of Mr. Allen’s testimony against its prejudice was constitutionally faulty. We are not prepared to hold that it violates the constitution for the jury to know who it was that was the victim of murder.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Moore v. Kemp

3. “In order to prevail on this claim, petitioner must show that the prosecutor’s actions were so egregious as to render the trial fundamentally unfair. Hance v. Zant, 696 F.2d 940, 950 (11th Cir.1983). We must evaluate the effect of the prosecutor’s remarks by considering the totality of the circumstances, id. recognizing that with a person’s life at stake, a prosecutor should not play on the passions of the jury. Id. at 951 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 592 F. Supp. 228 - Stephens v. Kemp