Schultz v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 13 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(a) In this section, “abandon” means to leave a child in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Herbst v. State · Mosley v. State

2. “Appellant mistakenly believes that this interpretation of the statute punishes her actions without regard to the surrounding circumstances. On the contrary, by intentionally “abandoning” a child, the actor does more than merely intentionally “leave” the child. The actor intentionally leaves the child under a certain set of objectively unreasonable circumstances outlined in the definition of “abandons.” This construction appears designed to punish actors who are aware of the dangerous circumstances even though, due to shortsightedness, lack of common sense, apathy, or just plain stupidity, they may not be aware that the circumstances are dangerous.”

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

3. “If the definition of an offense does not prescribe a culpable mental state, a culpable mental state is nevertheless required unless the definition plainly dispenses with any mental element.”

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