King v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““This statute [I.C. § 20-223], when construed together with the two provisos quoted above, expresses an intent by the legislature: (1) to grant parole eligibility to prisoners serving the maximum sentence of life imprisonment after ten years; (2) to grant parole eligibility to prisoners serving lesser sentences for certain other crimes after an amount of time equal to one-third the sentence. Since the maximum punishment for second degree murder under I.C. Section 18-4004 is life imprisonment, the legislature could not have intended to sanction a denial of parole eligibility for more than ten years of a sentence in any case. Thus, all defendants sentenced to less than life imprisonment become eligible for parole after ten years or less. Stated differently, sentences of thirty years or more must be treated for purposes of parole eligibility as effective life sentences. “In this case, appellant’s sixty-year sentence must be treated for parole purposes' as an effective life sentence, and therefore he will be eligible for parole after serving ten years of the sentence.””

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

2. “I.C. § 20-223 provides that “ * * * no person serving a life sentence in the state penitentiary shall be eligible for release on parole until he has served at least ten years. * * * [And] no person serving sentence in the state penitentiary for * * * murder in the second degree, shall be released on parole before he has served at least one-third of his sentence.””

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