Christopher v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Here, the jury had sufficient evidence so that they could reasonably conclude that the appellant did not act with reasonableness in using deadly force to defend himself or his property. When viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution, the facts show that the appellant was awake when he was confronted by Officer Early. That is, the noise of the burglar bar door being forcibly removed, the flash and band from the distraction devices, and the SWAT team members yelling “police” were certainly sufficient to awaken him had he been asleep. Moreover, the evidence concerning the August raid showed that the appellant was familiar with SWAT team tactics and distractions devices. The fact that the appellant was not shot shows that the appellant likely shot first at Officer Early. Trial testimony showed that Officer Early was an experienced officer and SWAT team member armed with a semi-automatic weapon. He would not likely have missed the appellant had he been the first aggressor.”

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

2. “[w]hile evidence establishing the car as stolen was relevant to the determination of probable cause to stop appellant, that issue was not contested before the jury.”

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