Tillman v. Cook’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 16 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. “the trial court may allow an information to be amended if two conditions are met: (1) no additional or different offense is charged, and (2) the substantial rights of the defendant[] are not prejudiced.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Bush · 2013 UT App 177 - State v. Hattrich

2. “On May 26, 1982, Mark Schoenfeld was found dead in his smoke-filled apartment. He was lying on a smoldering bed, and his body was badly burned. Experts determined that the fire had been deliberately started and that its point of origin was the victim’s mattress. Although the victim had received several severe blows to the head, the primary cause of death was asphyxiation. The evidence indicated, however, that the blows to the victim’s head could have produced fatal brain damage independent of the fire. Defendant’s former girlfriend, Lori Groneman, had been dating the victim at the time of his death. Groneman had been with the victim earlier in the evening on the night he was killed. On the basis of information provided by Groneman, defendant was arrested by the police. At trial, Groneman testified that she had known defendant for over five years and that after breaking off their relationship in January 1982, she had repeatedly received threatening phone calls from defendant and a female caller who did not identify herself. Groneman also said that defendant had followed her and the victim on at least three occasions and that defendant had further harassed and threatened her. Carla Sagers, defendant’s girlfriend at the time of the murder, was picked up by the police a few days after the murder. Although she originally confirmed the alibi defendant had given the police, Sagers later recanted her statement and became the State’s key witness, for which she was granted immunity fro”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 25 F. Supp. 2d 1245 - Tillman v. Cook

3. “There were mitigating factors in this case. Tillman's family testified on his behalf. Furthermore, virtually all of the State's case against Tillman came from a person who, herself, could have been prosecuted for capital homicide, and yet was given total immunity from prosecution. ... Tillman had no record of any prior homicide, a factor that has been significant in a number of death penalty cases in this state, especially where there was only one homicide. Finally, although Tillman has a criminal record, his most serious crimes were committed more than twenty years ago, and only one, attempted robbery committed in 1962, appeared to be a crime of violence.”

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