Duke v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]f you find from the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Randy Lee Wood and Joshua Luke Bagwell and Curtis Allen Gambill entered into a conspiracy to kidnap Heather Rich, and that pursuant thereto they did carry out, or attempt to carry out, such conspiracy to kidnap Heather Rich in that on or about the 3 rd day of October, 1996, in Montague County, Texas, in the course of kidnapping Heather Rich, Curtis Allen Gambill intentionally caused the death of Heather Rich, by shooting Heather Rich with a shotgun, intending thereby to kill the said Heather Rich, and that the defendant, Randy Lee Wood, pursuant to said conspiracy, if any, with the intent to promote and assist Joshua Luke Bagwell or Curtis Allen Gambill in the commission of said kidnapping, then and there, at the time of the shooting, if any, was acting with and aiding the said Joshua Luke Bagwell or Curtis Allen Gambill in the execution or attempted execution of said kidnapping of Heather Rich, if any, and that the shooting of Heather Rich followed in the execution of the conspiracy, if any, of Randy Lee Wood and Joshua Luke Bagwell and Curtis Allen Gambill to kidnap Heather Rich, and that the shooting of Heather Rich by Curtis Allen Gambill, if there was such, was done in furtherance of the conspiracy to kidnap Heather Rich, if any, and was an offense that should have been anticipated as a result of the carrying out of the conspiracy, then you will find the defendant, Randy Lee Wood, guilty of capital murder as ”

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

2. “If the error in the charge was the subject of a timely objection in the trial court, then reversal is required if the error is “calculated to injure the rights of defendant,” which means no more than that there must be some harm to the accused from the error. In other words, an error which has been properly preserved by objection will call for reversal as long as the error is not harmless. On the other hand, if no proper objection was made at trial and the accused must claim that the error was “fundamental,” he will obtain a reversal only if the error is so egregious and created such harm that he “has not had a fair and impartial trial” — in short “egregious harm.””

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

3. “see how another court of appeals handled a similar situation.” However, the defendant in Duke was charged as a party to capital murder under section 7.02(a)(2) of the penal code, not section 7.02(b), thus Duke is also inapplicable. Under section 7.02(a)(2), a person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by another if”

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