Johnson v. Thigpen’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 federal appellate · 5 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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “without doing substantial violence to the common sense meaning of that phrase. In my view, upon reflection, and as I have come to understand the phrase, the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law in each of these eight cases to allow submission to the jury for its consideration the possible aggravating circumstance that the capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has recently considered our stewardship of the”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 517 So. 2d 1295 - Jones v. State

2. “"Since Gray, however, the Mississippi Supreme Court has not consistently applied its Coleman limiting construction. 806 F.2d at 1246 . * * * * * * The limiting construction we found in Gray had been adopted in Coleman appears now to be more honored in breach than observance." 806 F.2d at 1247 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 517 So. 2d 1295 - Jones v. State

3. “The Mississippi sentencing scheme, even without a limiting construction of the especially heinous aggravating circumstance, meets these constitutional requirements.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 689 F. Supp. 644 - Smith v. Thigpen