King v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
92 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 92 later decisions — most recently December 2015 · most notably 6 Va. App. 485 - Darnell v. Commonwealth (1988), Booth v. Robertson (1988)
92 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 Zirkle v. Commonwealth · Evans v. Commonwealth · State v. . Cope · Interstate Veneer Co. v. Edwards · Laubach v. Colley
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 92 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard of human life.”
10 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[o]ther statutory violations do not necessarily fall into the same category, depending upon the nature and extent of the offenses. Inadvertent acts of negligence, without recklessness, while giving rise to civil liability, will not suffice to impose criminal responsibility .... Intentional, willful, and wanton violation of safety statutes, resulting in death, however, will justify conviction of involuntary manslaughter.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““[Criminal negligence] must be more than mere inadvertence or misadventure. It is a recklessness or indifference incompatible with a proper regard for human life.” Criminal negligence has also been defined as conduct “so gross, wanton, and culpable as to show a reckless disregard of human life,” and conduct “so flagrant, culpable, and wanton as to show utter disregard of the safety of others under circumstances likely to cause injury,” and conduct “so gross and culpable as to indicate a callous disregard of human life.””
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.