Ex Parte McGee’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 7 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The Eighth Amendment prohibits imposition of the death penalty when the jury is not permitted to express a “reasoned moral response” to potentially mitigating evidence.... Because the jury was not allowed to consider McGee’s mitigating evidence of mental retardation and an abusive childhood as required by the Supreme Court’s holding in Penry v. Lynaugh, we set aside the conviction....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ex Parte Tennard

2. “"... Justice O'Connor, writing for the majority, described mitigating evidence as that of a `defendant's background and character ... [supporting a] belief, long held by society, that defendants who commit criminal acts that are attributable to [such circumstances] may be less culpable than defendants who have no such excuse.'"”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ex Parte Bower

3. “an aberration from an otherwise good and non-violent character;”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ex Parte Bower