Powers v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On the afternoon of June 13, 1998, Elizabeth Lafferty was introduced to Powers and his nephew, "Junior" or "Jay" Otis, Jr. by a mutual friend, Eddie Barnes. The four decided to cook out and drink beer at Lafferty's home. Later, Otis and Barnes left the Lafferty home, leaving Powers and Lafferty alone. Lafferty's body was discovered at approximately 1:00 a.m. the next morning in the hallway. Lafferty had been shot five times, three at a point-blank range in the back of the head, once under the chin, and once in the temple. The State's experts were unable to determine the order in which the shots occurred. The bullets came from a .22 caliber gun.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 945 So. 2d 386 - Powers v. State

2. ““Counsel, instead of arguing Powers’s family and educational background, chose to beg the jury for mercy. He beseeched the jury to consider the finality of death and begged the jurors to search their conscience. He argued that the evidence did not support the aggravating circumstances, and he asked the jury to consider the mitigating factors that were submitted. In Manning v. State, 735 So.2d 323, 347-48 (Miss.1999), this Court found that trial counsel’s strategy of pleading for mercy was not a poor strategic choice based on the existing facts.””

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

3. “Trial counsel was not ineffective because he chose to pursue the path of mercy instead of rehashing the information produced during the guilt phase, producing unsupportive family members, emphasizing evidence of a drinking problem, and utilizing testimony of his drinking friends.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 945 So. 2d 386 - Powers v. State