Commonwealth v. Petrakovich’s Empirical Analysis
1974
Citation profile
150 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 150 later decisions — most recently October 2011 · most notably Commonwealth v. Hubbard (1977), Commonwealth v. Sullivan (1977)
150 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 Chapman v. State of California · Commonwealth v. Clair · Commonwealth v. Bighum · Commonwealth v. Williams · Commonwealth v. Lopinson
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 150 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The trial judge must initially decide whether the photographs possess inflammatory characteristics. If they do not, the photographs are admissible as are any evidentiary items, subject to the qualification of relevance. If the photographs are deemed inflammatory, then the trial judge must decide whether the photographs are of such essential evidentiary value that their need clearly outweighs the likelihood of their inflaming the passions of the jurors.”
13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““ ‘In the trial of criminal cases photographs of the victim and of the scenes of the crime are admissible to aid the jury in their understanding of the alleged crime, the kind of crime it was, exactly what caused the victim’s death and what, if any connection defendant had with it . . . Commonwealth v. Petrakovitch, 459 Pa. at 522, 329 A.2d at 849 .”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““Although evidence of [prior occurrences] which is too remote is not properly admissible . . . it is generally true that remoteness of the prior instances of hostility and strained relations affects the weight of that evidence and not its admissibility.” 10”
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.