Pierini v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We are of the opinion that appellant’s testimony raised the issue of self-defense and that the trial court erred in overruling appellant’s objection to the charge. We reiterate that the truth of appellant’s testimony is not at issue here and we express no opinion on who was telling the truth. The issue is whether the jury should have been instructed to decide those facts under the law on self-defense. We hold the trial court erred in refusing to charge the jury on the law of self-defense.”

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

2. “A person is justified in using deadly force against another: (1) if he would be justified in using force against the other in Section 9.31 of this code; (2) if a reasonable person in the actor’s situation would not have retreated; and (3) when and to the degree he reasonably believes the deadly force is immediately necessary: (A) to protect himself against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force ...”

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