Sutter v. Easterly’s Empirical Analysis
1945
Citation profile
7 federal appellate · 4 district · 78 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 94 later decisions — most recently August 1999 · most notably State v. Blankenship (1992), People v. Spriggs (1964)
7 federal appellate · 4 district · 78 state decisions — followed in 20 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 Mattox v. United States · Hazel-Atlas Glass Co. v. Hartford-Empire Co. · United States v. Throckmorton · Donnelly v. United States · Marshall v. Holmes
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 94 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“. . . The rule was originally limited to declarations of deceased persons and it is still so limited in some jurisdictions. But we believe sound reasoning supports the doctrine of those decisions holding that whenever the testimony of the witness is unavailable as a practical proposition, his declaration should be received. This is what Wigmore on Evidence defines as the “Necessity Principle.” We approve the reasoning set forth in Section 1456 of the Third Edition: “The Necessity Principle, as here applied, signifies the impossibility of obtaining other evidence from the same source, the declarant being unavailable in person on the stand. Whenever the witness is practically unavailable his statements should be received. Death is universally conceded to be sufficient. The Principle of Necessity is broad enough to assimilate other causes; but the rulings upon causes other than death are few. They are ill-judged, so far as they do not recognize the general principle of unavailability. Illness and insanity should be equally sufficient to admit the statements; as well as absence from the jurisdiction. Supervening incompetency through interest stands on the same ground.” 189 S.W.2d at 284 .”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“This statement subjected him not only to the possibility of indictment and imprisonment, but to the prospect of being held up to public shame in his community. It is completely unrealistic to say that a statement of such character is not `against one's interest' and `unlikely to be either deliberately false or heedlessly incorrect'”
1 later decision quote this exact passage““ * * * the principle of experience that a statement asserting a fact distinctly against one’s interest is unlikely to be deliberately false or heedlessly incorrect, and is thus sufficiently sanctioned, though oath and cross-examination are wanting * *”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.