Epperly v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1982
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 148 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 156 later decisions — most recently June 2019 · most notably State v. Nicely (1988), McDuff v. State (1997)
6 federal appellate · 148 state decisions — followed in 15 states
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 Jackson v. Virginia · Nogueras v. Puerto Rico International Airlines, Inc. · Stamper v. Commonwealth · 37 Cal. 2d 614 - People v. Cullen · Commonwealth v. Burns
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 156 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“where no body is found). 65 We find particularly significant the disruption of Mrs. Harris's habits and plans, such as her promise to deliver packages upon her arrival at St. Thomas as well as her failure to maintain regular contact with family members and friends. This evidence negates the possibility that Mrs. Harris may have abandoned her family. 66 Worldwide communication and travel today are so facile that a jury may properly take into account the unlikelihood that an absent person, in view of his health, habits, disposition and personal relationships would voluntarily flee,”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“evidence is admissible in a criminal case after a proper foundation has been laid to show that the handler was qualified to work with the dog and to interpret its responses, that the dog was a sufficiently trained and proven tracker of human scent, that the dog was placed on the trail where circumstances indicated that the guilty party had been, and that the trail had not become so stale or contaminated as to be beyond the dog's tracking capabilities.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The fact that a murderer may successfully dispose of the body of the victim does not entitle him to an acquittal. That is one form of success for which society has no reward.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. McDuff v. State · Fisher v. Texas
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.