Beck v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 49 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions — most recently April 2017 · most notably United States v. Tresvant (1982), 6 Va. App. 485 - Darnell v. Commonwealth (1988)
3 federal appellate · 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 Lewis v. Commonwealth · Mundy v. Commonwealth · Goodman v. Commonwealth · Fadely v. Commonwealth
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.
“Involuntary manslaughter is the killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, in the prosecution of some unlawful, but not felonious, act; or in the improper performance of a lawful act.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“In light of the above testimony, we held the evidence was sufficient to prove that Pollard’s intoxication caused him to operate his vehicle in a manner that resulted in [the victim’s] death. The evidence proved that Pollard’s speed and failure to maintain a proper look out contributed to [the victim’s] death. The evidence also proved that Pollard smelled of alcohol, slurred his speech and was unsteady. Thus the proof of intoxication was sufficient to connect Pollard’s speed, failure to brake, and inattention with his “impaired perception, retarded reflexes, and disrupted motor coordination.” Thus, proof of causation has been satisfied.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“`so gross and culpable as to indicate a callous disregard of human life,'”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Noakes v. Com.
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.