Moser v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 66 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 71 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Deliberation and premeditation involve a prior intention or design to do the act in question. It is not necessary, however, that this intention should have been conceived at any particular period of time, and it is sufficient that only a moment elapsed between the plan and its execution, as long as the jury can conclude that there was some appreciable interval however small. It is sufficient that with the intention to commit the act the appreciation of the result likely to follow appeared to the defendant at the time the act was committed, or that he understood and contemplated the consequences of his act. A killing may be the result of prompt and speedy execution of a hasty or immediate resolution and yet have been done with express malice. When a design is once formed, the haste with which it is put into execution in no way affects or modifies the degree of guilt incurred. Such design may have existed for only an instant before the commission of the crime, [footnotes omitted] “Whether premeditation is present in a given case is a question of fact to be determined by the jury from all the circumstances of the case, such as the use of a deadly weapon upon an unarmed victim; * * * ” (footnotes omitted)”

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

2. ““December 22, 1972, Merry Christmas, from Ed Moser [the defendant] to the Batiste family [the family of the deceased], .. Wouldn’t it be nice, as Mr. Bonaventure [defense counsel] says, if we could have Mr. Batiste [the deceased] back here? If emotion and a guilty conscience could only bring Roy Batiste back here, wouldn’t it be nice? If sorrow could bring Roy Batiste back to his wife and six kids, wouldn’t it be nice? You saw this Defendant testify up here yesterday. He was emotional, he broke up in places but let’s look at it realistically. Do you think for one minute that this man is sorry for Roy Batiste? Do you think for one minute that man feels sorry for Roy Batiste and those six kids, or do you think this man feels sorry for himself because he committed a murder in cold blood?,”

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

3. “Accordingly, in eases tried after this date, where the trial transcript discloses improper argument, I understand that this court will consider referring the offending attorney to the local administrative committee for determination of an appropriate penalty. Where a retrial is necessitated, I suggest the penalty might properly include payment of court costs to the state, and an appropriate assessment to cover the cost of public or private defense counsel. More than a century of admonitions has failed to engender in all who serve as prosecutors that instinct for propriety and fairness which their public duty obviously demands. Manifestly, another approach is indicated.”

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