Higginbotham v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1975
Citation profile
509 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 509 later decisions — most recently December 2017 · most notably Commonwealth v. Hudson (2003), Stockton v. Commonwealth (1984)
509 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 LaPrade v. Commonwealth · Boykins v. Commonwealth · Orange v. Commonwealth · Payne 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 509 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Where the sufficiency of the evidence is challenged after conviction, it is our duty to consider it in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth and give it all reasonable inferences fairly deducible therefrom. We should affirm the judgment unless it appears from the evidence that the judgment is plainly wrong or without evidence to support it.”
25 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““[I]f the proof relied upon by the Commonwealth is wholly circumstantial . . . then to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt all necessary circumstances proved must be consistent with guilt and inconsistent with innocence. They must overcome the presumption of innocence and exclude all reasonable conclusions inconsistent with that of guilt.””
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“need not affirmatively disprove all theories which might negate the conclusion that the defendant. . . [possessed the cocaine], but the conviction will be sustained if the evidence excludes every reasonable hypothesis of innocence.”
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.