173 W. Va. 133 - State Ex Rel. Hamstead v. Dostert’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
49 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 49 later decisions — most recently June 2013 · most notably 192 W. Va. 435 - State Ex Rel. R.L. v. Bedell (1994), 188 W. Va. 85 - State v. Lewis (1992)
49 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Bordenkircher v. Hayes · Oyler v. Boles · Linda R. S. v. Richard D. · Levine v. United States · Holt v. Alleghany Corp.
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 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"Prosecutors are charged with the duty to prosecute all violators of state criminal laws in their counties. W.Va.Code, 7-4-1 states: "`It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney to attend to the criminal business of the State in the county in which he is elected and qualified, and when he has information of the violation of any penal law committed within such county, he shall institute and prosecute all necessary and proper proceedings against the offender. (Emphasis supplied.)' `Shall' is mandatory and makes it a prosecutor's non-discretionary duty to institute proceedings against persons when he has information giving him probable cause to believe that any penal law has been violated." [3] (Emphasis in original; citations noted [4] ).”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“When we speak of ‘prosecutorial discretion,’ we are speaking of what course of conduct is 'necessary and proper’ given the circumstances in a particular case. With respect to the determination of whether to seek an indictment, the ultimate criterion must be whether, in the prosecutor’s professional judgment, it appears from the evidence that there is probable cause to believe that an offense has been committed and that the defendant has committed it.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“Before a prosecuting attorney may be disqualified from acting in a particular case and relieved of the duties imposed upon him by the Constitution and by statute, the reasons for his disqualification must appear on the record, and where there is any factual question as to the propriety of the prosecutor acting in the matter, he must be afforded notice and an opportunity to be heard.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.