Ritchie v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 60 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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he Indiana Death Penalty Statute does not violate the Sixth Amendment as interpreted by Apprendi .... Once a statutory aggravator is found by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, the Sixth Amendment ... is satisfied. Indiana now places the weighing process in the hands of the jury, but this does not convert the weighing process into an eligibility factor. The outcome of weighing does not increase eligibility. Rather, it fixes the punishment within the eligible range. It is therefore not required to be found by a jury under a reasonable doubt standard.”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Laux v. State · Miles v. State

2. “(F) the state has proved be-youd a reasonable doubt that at least one (1) of the aggravating cireumstances listed in subsection (b) exists; and (2) any mitigating cireumstances that exist are outweighed by the aggravating circumstance or cireumstances.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. McManus v. State · Losch v. State

3. “the determination of the weight to be accorded the aggravating and mitigating cireumstances is not a 'fact' which must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt, but is a balancing process.”

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