Sneed v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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. “A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in the conduct or cause the result, (emphasis added) A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to circumstances surrounding his conduct when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist. A 'person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a result of his conduct when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result, (emphasis added)”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Green v. State · Cole v. State

2. “The jury may not convict a person of aggravated assault solely on a finding that the accused intentionally or knowingly engaged in conduct which happened to cause bodily injury.... The above quoted language in the charge [the exact language as paragraph number two, above, in this case], that refers to "the nature of his conduct" is appropriate to a charge on an offense that prohibits conduct, such as arson or theft.... That language does not belong in a charge on an offense that does not prohibit conduct.... [L]anguage that defines a culpable mental state with respect to conduct adds nothing since the culpable mental state does not apply to the conduct, and it allows the jury to do that which the law does not—find the accused guilty of aggravated assault based only on his conduct, rather than on intending or knowing the prohibited results. All references to conduct should have been deleted from the charge.”

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

3. “The definitions allow the jury to convict appellant on a finding that he intentionally or knowingly caused bodily injury to [the named complainant] when it was his conscious objective or desire to cause that result; or where he engaged in conduct when he was aware that his conduct was reasonably certain to cause bodily injury to James. The charge in this case also instructed the jury that appellant committed”

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