State v. Porterfield’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 40 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 45 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “To show that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing involved torture of the victim or depravity of mind of the killer. Torture means the infliction of severe physical or mental pain upon the victim while he or she remained alive and conscious. Proof that such torture occurred also establishes that the murder involved depravity of mind of the murderer. Where the State fails to prove that such torture occurred, the State may offer to prove that the defendant possessed a depraved state of mind at the time of the killing. Depravity of mind means that the murderer’s state of mind at the time of the killing must have been wicked or morally corrupt. Acts occurring after the death of the victim may be relied upon to show depravity of mind of the murderer, but such acts must be so close to the time of the victim’s death and of such a nature that the inference can be fairly drawn that the depraved state of mind of the defendant existed at the time that the fatal blows were inflicted upon the victim. If the length of time between the moment of death and those acts is so great that the inference cannot be fairly drawn that the murderer possessed such depravity of mind, then you may not find that the murder, itself, involved depravity of mind.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Irick

2. ““It would have been better had the trial judge used the definition set out in State v. Williams, 690 S.W.2d 517, 533 (Tenn. 1985), as they have been approved by this Court. However, the definitions given were in our opinion adequate. Further, we find no prejudicial error in the trial court’s failure to define the terms “torture” or “depravity of mind.” The evidence in this case supports the aggravating circumstance, Tenn.Code Ann. § 39 — 2—203(i)(5), as defined in State v. Williams, supra, ... Furthermore, the remaining two aggravating circumstances were correctly charged and are supported by the evidence.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Irick

3. “[T]he defendant’s confession may be considered at trial in assessing whether his codefendant’s statements are supported by sufficient “indicia of reliability” to be directly admissible against him (assuming the “unavailability” of the codefendant) de spite the lack of opportunity for cross-examination, and may be considered on appeal in assessing whether any Confrontation Clause violation was harmless.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Cameron