886 So. 2d 332 - Davis v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The instruction given improperly told the jury that the very act Giles sought to justify itself precluded a finding of justification. Essentially, the jury was instructed that 776.041(1) would apply to preclude a self-defense claim, when it is claimed that the acts with which the defendant is charged are themselves committed in appropriate self-defense. Thus, even if the jury found that Giles’ act of aggravated battery was committed in self-defense, then the use of force was not justifiable because the act itself is a forcible felony. This reading, however, is erroneous because the proper test for determining the applicability of the instruction is not whether the self-defense act itself could qualify as a forcible felony, but whether, at the time of the self-defense, the accused was engaged in a separate forcible felonious act.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 76 So. 3d 379 - Smith v. State

2. “However, the use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm is not justifiable if you find ... [t]he defendant was attempting to commit, committing or escaping after the commission of a forcible felony....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 919 So. 2d 699 - Granberry v. State

3. “self-defense [is] a valid and available defense only when the felony at issue was the felony that was committed in self-defense”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 981 So. 2d 449 - Martinez v. State