862 So. 2d 582 - Lester v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The law regarding defense of habitation is not such that a mere trespasser, having been once warned to vacate the premises, may thereafter be killed by the premises’ owner with impunity if he fails to leave the property soon enough to satisfy the desires of the owner. The law contemplates, rather, that deadly force may only be employed to repel a trespasser who demonstrates the apparent purpose of assaulting or offering violence to an occupant or committing some other crime on the premises.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Howell v. State · White v. State

2. “[Djeadly force may only be employed to repel a trespasser who demonstrates the apparent purpose of assaulting or offering violence to an occupant or committing some other crime on the premises. Bowen v. State, 164 Miss. 225, 227 , 144 So. 230, 232 (1932).... [T]he threat of serious bodily injury need not be as imminent in defense of habitation as in a case of individual self-defense. Thus, if it appears reasonable for the occupant to conclude that the ultimate purpose of the trespasser is to inflict such harm, then, because of the law’s recognition of the sanctity of one’s own residence, deadly force may be employed to end the potential danger at a stage before the actual threat becomes immediate. Id.”

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