Baker v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1976
Citation profile
43 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 43 later decisions — most recently November 2023 · most notably Edge v. State (1992), 91 Wash. 2d 301 - State v. Wanrow (1978)
43 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. State · State v. Middlebrooks · Leutner v. State · Cain v. State
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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The problem we encounter is that both voluntary and involuntary manslaughter are very narrowly defined by Georgia statutes; specifically, voluntary manslaughter encompasses only those killings done in “sudden, violent, and irresistible passion.” . . . Involuntary manslaughter covers deaths in the commission of a lawful act in an unlawful manner . . . and deaths caused in the commission of an unlawful act other than a felony. . . . Therefore, no death caused by a felony can possibly [be] involuntary manslaughter, and it can [be] voluntary manslaughter only if done in passion. . . . [Thus, t]he situation under Georgia law ... is that a death growing out of an aggravated assault is either malice murder or felony murder, or else it is not punishable as a homicide. This situation leads to the inevitable conclusion that . . . the Georgia legislature intended felony murder to encompass all felonies as “felony” is defined in [the Code], and not just dangerous or forcible felonies. 10”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Chapman v. State
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.