State v. Baumruk’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 18 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It was the location of the crime that precluded the jury in Baumruk from being “a panel of impartial ‘indifferent’ jurors.” Id. In Baumruk , the concern was that the jurors would perceive themselves placed “in the shoes of the victims;” that they “arrived at the courthouse and entered through metal detectors that had been installed as a direct result of Baumruk’s shooting spree. Jurors walked the same halls, used the same elevators, stairwells, and escalators that were used by escaping victims. The trial was held in a courtroom nearly identical to the courtroom that was the scene of the crime. The jurors, in effect, sat at the murder scene while determining guilt or innocence and the penalty to be imposed.” Id. (Footnotes omitted.) The environment of the trial in this case does not pose a question regarding “the impartiality of the adjudicator” as proclaimed in Baumruk. See Id. Baumruk is of no consequence to this appeal.”

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

2. “This is not just a pre-trial publicity, improper venue case. At its core this case raises a serious question as to the “impartiality of the adjudicator” because of the environment in which the trial was held. The jurors were aware that the courtroom in which they sat was the same as the crime scene and that the building in which they entered every day of trial was the scene of the terrifying events. [[Image here]] The jurors, in effect, sat at the murder scene while determining guilt or innocence and the penalty to be imposed.”

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

3. “The environment of a trial must give jurors, who may otherwise have been carefully selected, a sense or appearance of neutrality.”

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