Williams v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 39 later decisions — most recently July 2019 · most notably Posey v. State (1998), Matchett v. State (1996)
38 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Patterson v. New York · McMillan v. Pennsylvania · Almanza v. State · Roberts v. Louisiana · Martin v. Ohio
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 39 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“An offense under this section is a felony of the first degree unless the actor voluntarily releases the victim alive and in a safe place, in which event it is a felony of the second degree.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Posey v. State · Oliva v. State“[W]hether an accused voluntarily released his victim alive and in a safe place 'is not submitted to the jury unless evidence is admitted supporting' a finding that he did. In other words, the accused has the threshold burden of production.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“If you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that on or about the 13th day of June, 1993, in McLennan County, Texas, the defendant, Richard Mata, did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of an individual, Rutilio Rivera by stabbing him, or did then and there intentionally, with the intent to cause serious bodily injury to Rutilio Rivera, commit an act clearly dangerous to human life, namely, stab the said Rutilio Rivera which caused the death of Rutilio Rivera as alleged in the indictment, but you further find from all the facts and circumstances in evidence in the case, that the defendant, in killing the deceased, if he did, acted under the immediate influence of a sudden passion arising from an adequate cause, then you will find the defendant guilty of the lesser offense, voluntary manslaughter.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Mata v. State
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.