Cave v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 8 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Cave’s other argument — that counsel’s failure to object when the State elicited the nature of the past arrest constituted ineffective assistance — is more difficult, but we conclude that this too is without merit. Even if counsel’s performance in this respect was deficient, Cave is not entitled to relief because he has not demonstrated prejudice. Cave has not “show[n] that there is a reasonable probability that, but for counsel’s unprofessional errors, the result of the [penalty-phase] proceeding would have been different.” When asked about the prior arrest on direct examination, Cave made clear that the charge was “dropped” and he “was not guilty.” And after he revealed on cross-examination that the charge was rape, he reiterated that “not only [was that charge] dropped ... [it was] proven to be a false charge.” We recognize that Cave’s protestations of innocence may not have been all that convincing to the jury, but the fact remains that the court did find that the no-significant-history mitigator had been established, and the judge’s decision to accord it little weight did not rely on or even cite the past arrest. In fact, even the State conceded in closing argument that the no-significant-history mitigator had been established. And in arguing that the jury should assign little weight to that mitigator, the State never once mentioned the past arrest, let alone the nature of that arrest. Rather, the State argued that “this mitigating circum stance pales when compared with ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cave v. Secretary for DepartMent of Corrections

2. “[Cjounsel’s decision to seek the no-significant-history mitigator, even though doing so opened the door to the introduction of Cave’s prior arrest, was not deficient. Counsel’s key argument in mitigation was that Cave was not as culpable as his cohorts. This argument rested on two related premises: first, that Cave did not actually shoot or stab the victim and that he did not intend that the victim be killed; and second, that because of his criminal naiveté and the fact that he was unaware of his cohorts’ more sophisticated criminal pasts, Cave could not have reasonably foreseen that his cohorts would kill the victim. Establishing the no-significant-history mitigator was crucial to this strategy, and if counsel had opted not to pursue it, it not only would have undercut that argument, but it also would have left Cave facing five aggravating circumstances without any statutory mitigating circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cave v. Secretary for DepartMent of Corrections