Blankenship v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The appellant, Leslie Orrin Blankenship, appeals from his conviction entered on this guilty plea to murder, a violation of § 13A-6-2, Ala.Code 1975. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. “The appellant argues that his guilty plea was involuntary because, he says, he was incompetent at the time he entered the plea. In support of his argument, the appellant states that the initial report of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation said that he was incompetent to stand trial. He argues that on the basis of a second report by the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation indicating that he was competent to stand trial, the trial court allowed him to enter a guilty plea, without conducting a hearing on the issue of his competency or finding that he was competent to stand trial, as required by Rule 11.6(g) and 11.7(c), Ala.R.Crim.P. There is no evidence in the record that a hearing was held on the issue of the appellant’s competency or that the appellant entered a stipulation as to his competency. “ ‘Trial of a person who is incompetent violates the due process guarantees. Therefore, when a trial court is faced with facts that create a reasonable and bona fide doubt as to the mental competency of the defendant to stand trial, the trial court must take steps to assure that a reasonable legal determination of competency is reached. In other words, in such situations, the trial court must inquire into the defendant’s competency, generally by conducting a compe”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 875 So. 2d 1225 - Wilson v. State

2. ““This cause is remanded to the trial court for that court to conduct a hearing on the issue of the appellant’s competency at the time he entered his plea. At the competency hearing, the burden of proof is upon the State to show that the appellant was competent at the time he entered his guilty plea. See Lackey v. State, 615 So.2d 145, 152 (Ala.Cr.App.1992) (‘Once the defendant has met his burden of production by presenting evidence that he is incompetent to stand trial, the State must then prove that the defendant is competent.’). The trial court should be able to conduct a meaningful inquiry into the appellant’s competency at the time he entered his plea based upon the psychologist’s finding of competence, the trial court’s observations of the appellant during the guilty plea proceedings, and the observations of the appellant’s attorneys before, during, and after the appellant entered the plea. See Ex parte Janezic, [ 723 So.2d 725 (Ala.1997) ]. “If the trial court concludes that the appellant was, in fact, competent at the time he entered his plea, it should so state in a written order containing specific findings of fact. Alternatively, if the trial court determines that the appellant was incompetent at the time he entered his plea, it should allow the appellant to withdraw his plea and transfer the appellant to the custody of the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation to await further proceedings as to any report of competency. “We pretermit discussion of addi”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 875 So. 2d 1225 - Wilson v. State