Heacock v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
52 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 54 later decisions — most recently June 2019 · most notably 204 W. Va. 58 - State v. Rodoussakis (1998), Commonwealth v. Catalina (1990)
52 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 Floyd v. Commonwealth · Wright v. Commonwealth · Haskell v. Commonwealth · Wooden v. Commonwealth · Stillwell 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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The . . . imputation of malice is implicit in § 18.2-33 which contemplates an accidental killing; the commission of any felonious act (other than those expressly excepted) during the prosecution of which a death occurs supplies the malice which raises the incidental homicide to the level of second-degree murder. This statute codifies ancient common law.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[The defendant] argues that the evidence fails to show that he administered the fatal injection. This argument overlooks Dryden’s testimony that Heacock and Chaplin jointly prepared the narcotic mixture in a spoon, the essential first step in the process of administration by syringe. Hence, it is immaterial that Chaplin may have inserted the needle or that Wilson may have injected herself. The defendant was a principal in the second degree and, as such, criminally responsible for the consequences of his conduct “as if a principal in the first degree.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The killing of one accidentally, contrary to the intention of the parties, while in the prosecution of some felonious act other than those specified in §§ 18.2-31 and 18.2-32, is murder of the second degree and is punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for not less than five years nor more than forty years.”
2 later decisions 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.