Levi v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Silva argues that the word “serious” in the definition is meant to modify both “permanent disfigurement” and “protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ.” Silva maintains that, because Dr. Behrendt’s stipulated testimony stated only that Simpson had suffered a protracted loss or impairment of his right eye and not a serious protracted loss or impairment, the prosecution failed to adduce sufficient evidence at trial to convict him under HRS Sec. 707-710. We disagree. First, it is clear from the plain phrasing of the applicable statutory definition that the word “serious” modifies only the first phrase — “permanent disfigurement” — and not the second phrase beginning with “protracted loss.” Additionally, simple logic dictates that the word “serious” is only meant to modify the first phrase and not the second. Moreover, the addition of the modifier “serious” would add nothing to the second applicable phrase other than redundancy. By its very nature, a “protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or organ” is a serious injury. ... It is incomprehensible that the protracted loss or impairment of a leg, an arm, or an eye, as in the present case, could be anything but “serious.””

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

2. “Only in exceptional circumstances need the trial court, sua sponte, give such a limiting instruction. For example, in Champion v. State, 87 Nev. 542 , 490 P.2d 1056 (1971), the state conceded that a cautionary instruction concerning an addict-informer's testimony was central to the cause, and we found prejudice where no such instruction was given.”

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

3. “Although it is true that the burns to the boy’s stomach and hand did not create a substantial risk of death, protracted loss or impairment of a bodily member or organ, or prolonged physical pain, there was sufficient evidence offered to enable the jury to find a serious permanent disfigurement.”

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