Bouwkamp v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 55 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 57 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Evidence sufficient to sustain a finding of premeditation and deliberation "falls into three basic categories: (1) facts about * * * what defendant did prior to the actual killing which show that the defendant was engaged in activity directed toward, and explicable as intended to result in, the killing-what may be characterized as 'planning' activity; (2) facts about the defendant's prior relationship and/or conduct with the victim from which the jury could reasonably infer a 'motive' to kill the vie-tim, which inference of motive, together with facts of type (1) or (8) would * * * support an inference that the killing was the result of 'a pre-existing reflection' and 'careful thought and weighing of considerations' rather than 'mere unconsidered or rash impulse hastily executed'; (8) facts about the nature of the killing from which the jury could infer that the manner of killing was so particular and exacting that the defendant must have intentionally killed according to a 'preconceived design' to take the victim's life in a particular way for a 'reason' which the jury can reasonably infer from facts of type (1) or (2)." Verdicts of first degree murder typically are sustained when there is evidence of all 'three types and otherwise require at least extremely strong evidence of (1) or evidence of (2) in conjunction with either (1) or (8).”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lovato v. State · Hightower v. State of Wyoming

2. “... the purpose of the [felony murder] rule is to deter homicides in the course of felonies, including those resulting from negligence or accident, by holding the perpetrators strictly responsible. This purpose does not logically reach the circumstance where the felony is conceived of and executed after the killing has occurred.... Perpetration as used here, is the act or process of commission of a specified crime. Webster’s Third New international Dictionary 1684 (1971). To occur in the perpetration of a felony the killing must occur in the unbroken chain of events comprising the felony. In Cloman [v. State, 574 P.2d 410 (Wyo.1978) ] we framed the concept this way: “the time sequence is not important as long as the evidence, including the inferences, point to one continuous transaction.” This means that, for a finding of felony murder, the killing must occur as part of the res gestae or “things done to commit” the felony. If the felony was not conceived of before the victim’s death but occurs after the murder, the chain is broken and the murder is a separate act which cannot have occurred in “the perpetration of’ the underlying felony. While the sequence of events is 'not significant, their interrelationship is. A specific connection is required: the murder must occur in the performance of the felony for conviction of felony murder under Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-101 (June 1988).”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hightower v. State of Wyoming · 118 Md. App. 590 - Stouffer v. State

3. “common-law defenses are retained unless otherwise provided by this act.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stagner v. State · Wheaton v. State