State v. Phillips’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “For many years the law in this state was that an appellate court could not amend or set aside an illegally lenient sentence on its own motion, when the defendant alone had appealed and the state had not sought review of the sentence. State v. Jackson, 452 So.2d 682 (La. 1984); State v. Napoli, 437 So.2d 868 (La.1983). We reasoned that an unsought modification of a sentence by an appellate court “either is or appears to be retaliatory in nature,” and may have an unconstitutional “chilling effect” on the exercise of a defendant’s right to appeal, a right that is favored under our law. Jackson, 452 So.2d at 683 . [[Image here]] The Williams decision does not sweep broadly enough to overrule Fraser and hold that the state need not appeal the district court’s failure to impose a statutorily mandated fine. The law in Louisiana regarding an appellate court’s imposition of mandatory fines on its own motion continues to be governed by the Fraser court’s interpretation of article 882: the state must seek appellate review of the district court’s failure to impose a statutorily mandated fine. The courts of appeal in these consolidated cases therefore erred in amending the defendants’ sentences to include a fine in the absence of complaint by the state.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 153 So. 3d 1257 - State v. Kelly

2. “the defendants' contentions that an appellate court may not tamper with a district court's failure to impose a mandatory fine unless the state is seeking relief by appeal or writ application.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 945 So. 2d 865 - State v. Francois

3. “Whether this statute mandates a fine in some minimum amount is a question not entirely free from doubt. After all, a fine of zero qualifies as `not more than ten thousand dollars.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 945 So. 2d 865 - State v. Francois