Grigsby v. Mabry’s Empirical Analysis
758 F.2d 226 · 1985
Citation profile
45 federal appellate · 1 district · 102 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 196 later decisions (3 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2014 · most notably Lockhart v. McCree (1986), State v. Williams (1986)
45 federal appellate · 1 district · 102 state decisions — followed in 27 states
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Wainwright v. Sykes · Gregg v. Georgia · Witherspoon v. Illinois · Lockett v. Ohio · Wainwright v. Witt
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 196 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[Njothing we say today bears upon the power of a State to execute a defendant sentenced to death by a jury from which the only veniremen who were in fact excluded for cause were those who made unmistakably clear (1) that they would automatically vote against the imposition of capital punishment without regard to any evidence that might be developed at the trial of the case before them, or (2) that their attitude toward the death penalty would prevent them from making an impartial decision as to the defendant’s guilt. Nor does the decision in this case affect the validity of any sentence other than one of death. Nor, finally, does today’s holding render invalid the conviction, as opposed to the sentence, in this or any other case.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“[A]s several courts have observed, jurors who decide both guilt and penalty are likely to form residual doubts or 'whimsical' doubts . . . about the evidence so as to bend them to decide against the death penalty. Such residual doubt has been recognized as an extremely effective argument for defendants in capital cases. To divide the responsibility . . . to some degree would eliminate the influence of such doubts.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“whether the exclusion of jurors who hold scruples against the death penalty creates a `conviction-prone' jury,”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.