Commonwealth v. Hobson’s Empirical Analysis
1979
Citation profile
35 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 35 later decisions — most recently August 2018 · most notably Commonwealth v. Hawkins (1997), Commonwealth v. Pronkoskie (1982)
35 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 Commonwealth v. Zapata · Commonwealth v. Boone · Commonwealth v. McNeil · Commonwealth v. McComb · Commonwealth v. Nelson
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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he accidental killing of another, where the slayer is doing a lawful act, unaccompanied by any criminally careless or reckless conduct. "Three elements enter into the defense of excusable homicide by misadventure: [1] The act resulting in death must be a lawful one; [2] [i]t must be done with reasonable care and due regard for the lives and persons of others; and [3] the killing must be accidental and not intentional, or without unlawful intent, or without evil design or intention on the part of the slay-er_ Even though the homicide is unintentional, it is not excusable where it is the result or incident of an unlawful act, such as pointing or presenting a gun, pistol or other firearm at another person in such a manner as to constitute an offense under the laws of the state....””
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“Material Permitted in Possession of the Jury Upon retiring for deliberations, the jury shall not be permitted to have a transcript of any trial testimony, nor a copy of any written confession by the defendant, nor a copy of the information or indictment. Otherwise, upon retiring, the jury may take with it such exhibits as the trial judge deems proper.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“during a fight with [the victim], [he, the defendant,] pulled his gun from the waistband of his trousers and struck [the victim] on the side of the face with the barrel of the gun. Undaunted by the blow, [the victim] grabbed [the defendant’s] hand and the gun. During the ensuing struggle the gun went off, fatally wounding [the victim].”
1 later decision 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.