Bonner v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he critical inquiry is whether the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed the act charged, and that he did so under such circumstances that every element of the offense existed; and where the evidence fails to meet this test it is insufficient to support a conviction. However, this inquiry does not require a court to ask itself whether it believes that the evidence at the trial established guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Instead, the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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

2. “[T]he Mississippi Supreme Court [has] stated, this is not the first time that Mississippi's habitual offender statute has been challenged as cruel and unusual punishment. [The supreme court] has consistently held that sentences under Mississippi Code Annotated section 99-19-83 do not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Samuel Terrail Young, Jr. v. State of Mississippi