972 So. 2d 839 - Blake v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

52 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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “On the morning of August 1¾ 2002, Maheshkumar “Mike”, Patel was shot and killed as he stood inside the glass doors of a convenience store, called Del’s Go Mart, that he owned and operated in Winter Haven, Florida. The store’s video surveillance camera partially captured the shooting. The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the chest. Witnesses testified that on August 12, 2002, at about 6 a.m., they heard a gunshot and saw a black male run and enter a light-colored car parked in front of the store. A detective found the car abandoned a little oyer a mile away. A K-9 tracked a scent from the car to a building in the Lake Deer Apartments. At the time, Teresa Jones was living in that complex with her children and her boyfriend, Richard Green. At about 7:00 or 7:10 that morning, Richard Green, Kevin Key, and Blake came to Teresa’s home. She took Key to a store and Blake to the Scottish Inn, where he was staying. On the way, they stopped by a light-colored car on the side of the" road, and Blake removed two guns from it. Blake told Teresa he had shot someone. Blake took the guns with him. Later the same day, Blake told Demetrius Jones that he, Green, and Key were attempting a robbery and someone was shot. Blake asked Demetrius to dispose of a gun, and Demetrius agreed to attempt, to sell it. However, Blake did not give Demetrius the gun. At around 6 or 7 p.m. that night, Green gave . Demetrius a 9 mm handgun and they attempted to. sell it, but no one bought it. Later that night ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. & SC13-1065 Harold Blake v. State of Florida and Harold Blake v. Timothy H. Cannon, etc.

2. “For a confession or inculpatory statement to be voluntary, the totality of the circumstances surrounding the statement must indicate the statement was the result of a free and rational choice. The mind of the accused should, at the time, be free to act, uninfluenced by fear or hope. To exclude a confession or an inculpatory statement, it is not necessary that any direct promises or threats be made to the accused. It is sufficient if the circumstances or declarations of those present are calculated to delude the prisoner as to his true position and exert an improper influence over his mind. A confession or inculpatory statement is not freely and voluntarily given if it has been elicited by direct or implied promises, however slight.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Ramirez v. State

3. “[T]he test is ... one of voluntariness, or free will, which is to be determined by an examination of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the confession. Moreover, to establish that a statement is involuntary, there must be a finding of coercive police conduct. Absent police conduct causally related to the confession, there is simply no basis for concluding that any state actor has deprived a criminal defendant of due process of law. Thus, whether the confession is admissible depends on (1) whether the interrogating officers engaged in coercive activity, and (2) whether that activity was sufficient to overcome the free will of the defendant.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 151 So. 3d 4 - Lavonte Davis v. State