813 So. 2d 68 - Crook v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In contrast to Robinson, [3] the trial court in the present case did not find and weigh Crook's brain damage as a valid mitigating circumstance, and rejected its connection to this crime, even though three defense experts, two of whom specialized in brain injuries, presented uncontroverted testimony that Crook suffered from frontal lobe brain damage that established a statutory mental mitigator. Perhaps most significantly, unlike the experts in Robinson, the expert testimony in this case also explained the causes and origins of Crook's frontal lobe brain damage and established that there was a causal link between Crook's brain damage and the homicide. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred in rejecting the uncontroverted evidence of Crook's brain damage. We conclude that based upon the expert testimony, there was a "reasonable quantum of competent, uncontroverted evidence" establishing its existence and its connection to the crime in question. Spencer [v. State], 645 So.2d [377, 385 (Fla.1994)]. Certainly, this is not a case where there was little or no evidence presented to support a finding of brain damage, see Shellito v. State, 701 So.2d 837, 844 (Fla.1997), or where the expert testimony pertaining to a mitigating circumstance was equivocal. See Robinson, 761 So.2d at 276-77; see also Franqui v. State, 699 So.2d 1312, 1326 (Fla.1997). . . . Thus, given the unrefuted expert testimony in this case, we conclude that the trial court erred in failing to find and weigh”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 946 So. 2d 988 - Coday v. State

2. “We are not certain whether, if the trial court had properly considered the brain damage and borderline mental retardation and the effect of these mental mitigators on the crime in question, the trial court would have found that the aggravation outweighed the mitigation, especially in light of the abundance of nonstatutory mitigation. ... [W]e vacate the sentence of death and remand the case to the trial court to reconsider and reweigh all available mitigating evidence against the aggravating factors, and to determine the proper penalty in accordance with Florida law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Crook v. State

3. “The first-degree murder conviction was predicated on alternative theories of premeditated murder and felony-murder with the underlying offenses of robbery and sexual battery. The jury returned a general verdict of guilty of first-degree murder, as well as guilty verdicts on the separate charges of robbery and sexual battery. We find that there is competent substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict in this case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Crook v. State