People v. West’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 21 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he knowingly touching of the victim’s intimate parts by the actor, or of the actor’s intimate parts by the victim, or the knowingly touching of the clothing covering the immediate area of the victim’s or actor’s intimate parts if that sexual contact can reasonably be construed as being for the purposes of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Jensen · People v. Moore

2. “INSTRUCTION NO. 13 The elements of the crime of sexual assault on a child are: 1. That the defendant, 2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged, 3. knowingly, a. subjected another not his or her spouse, b. to any sexual contact, and 4. that person was less than fifteen years of age, and 5. the defendant was at least four years older than that person, 6. at the time of the commission of the act. After considering all the evidence, if you decide the prosecution has proven each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant guilty of sexual assault on a child. After considering all the evidence, if you decide the prosecution has failed to prove each of the elements beyond a reasonable doubt, you should find the defendant not guilty of sexual assault on a child. [[Image here]] INSTRUCTION NO. 4 [[Image here]] The burden of proof is upon the prosecution to prove to the satisfaction of the jury beyond a reasonable doubt the existence of all of the elements necessary to constitute the crime charged.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Jensen

3. “Because the 1988 amendment to section 18-3-401(4), 8 C.R.S. (1985 Supp.), retains the purposeful element of “sexual contact,” it would appear that the effect of the amendment is to define the “conduct” aspect of “sexual contact” in terms of an awareness of the nature of the conduct in question — that is, that the actor is touching the victim’s intimate parts or the victim is touching the actor’s intimate parts — but still to retain the purposeful aspect of that conduct — that is, that the touching be done for the purpose of sexual arousal, gratification, or abuse. In short, we discern no basis in the 1983 amendment to construe the term “can reasonably be construed” in a manner different from the construction adopted in this opinion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People in Interest of JA