Nobles v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

62 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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... Where the evidence presented by defendant’s witnesses faded to show a connection between the events they described and the commission of the crime, then that “evidence is not relevant, beyond the scope of the special issues, to the jury’s individualized assessment of Appellant’s moral culpability for the crime.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Richardson v. State · Earhart v. State

2. “Question number two is obviously the one where we have heard most of the testimony, “Is there a probability, ‘probability,’ that the Defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would constitute a continuing threat to society?” Think about the evidence that you have heard to that issue. There has been a wealth of evidence talking about the pattern of violence that ... [appellant] has already established. Twelve run-ins with the law by the time he was 11, 11 years old. Think of your kids at home, 11 years old. That’s young. And, now, the Defense is going to get up here and tell you, “Well, he was just stealing to eat.” Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, this crime that he committed that he’s on trial for has nothing to do with him eating. He didn’t go kill these people for food. He killed them for the almighty dollar and the almighty drug. He wasn’t stealing to eat. He wasn’t killing to eat. And you can look at things like that. You heard witness after witness come on the stand and talk about they had known Damon Richardson for 15 years, for 10 years, for 11 years, and they all have the same opinion about his reputation, that his reputation for being peaceable and law-abiding was bad. You heard from people in the drug enforcement administration. You heard from captains at the Lubbock Pohce Department. You heard from undercover detectives at the Sheriffs Department. You heard from a juvenile probation officer. You heard from a DPS narcotics agent. Over and over again, you hea”

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

3. “In the determination whether the evidence was sufficient to warrant a jury charge on voluntary manslaughter, this Court must consider all relevant facts and circumstances. It is not enough that appellant acted mad or upset, the evidence must also show that the anger was the result of an act of provocation on the part of the deceased or a third party acting in concert with the deceased. In cases where this Court has held the evidence was sufficient to warrant such a charge, a distinguishing factor tends to be that the deceased and the appellant had engaged in some sort of altercation or argument which immediately escalated into a killing. See Humphries v. State, 615 S.W.2d 737 (Tex.Cr.App.1981) (stabbing in the course of a heated argument); Schoelman v. State, 644 S.W.2d 727 (Tex.Cr.App.1983) (shooting after an argument over a ring). However, this Court has distinguished cases where the passion was not sudden. Hobson [v. State, 644 S.W.2d 473 (Tex.Cr.App.1983) ], supra. (Charge on voluntary manslaughter not warranted where altercation took place in the morning and the stabbing took place in the evening.) Jenkins v. State, 740 S.W.2d 435 (Tex.Cr.App.1983). (Killing resulted after highway chase and altercation; defendant not entitled to a charge on voluntary manslaughter because fear alone is not enough to raise sudden passion.)”

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