Spears v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

37 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 37 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If the defendant does not advance a factor to be mitigating at sentencing, this Court will presume that the factor is not significant and the defendant is precluded from advancing it as a mitigating circumstance for the first time on appeal.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Francis v. State · Moyer v. State

2. “[T]he issue is not whether in our judgment the sentence is unreasonable, but whether it is clearly, plainly, and obviously so.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. King v. State · Culvahouse v. State

3. “a trial court may not use a factor constituting a material element of an offense as an aggravating circumstance.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Moyer v. State · Bunch v. State