621 So. 2d 1361 - Trepal v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
2 federal appellate · 12 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently July 2018
2 federal appellate · 12 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 Rodriguez v. New York · Hanil Bank v. Michelman · 110 So. 2d 654 - Williams v. State · Tamotsu Tanaka v. Creditors' Committee 1 · King v. Lynaugh
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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Evidence was presented that of the chemical forms of thallium that exist, only one form can be introduced into Coca-Cola without producing noticeable changes in the drink. Evidence was presented that the bottle caps had been pried off the Coca-Cola bottles. Evidence was introduced that worldwide, Coca-Cola found no other incidences of tampering with the product, and received no ransom note after the poisoning. Evidence also was presented that a bottle-capping machine was seen among the items in the Trepals' garage when they moved into their Alturas home.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Trepal had researched and written a pamphlet about voodoo for a Mensa murder weekend, which read, in part: Few voodooists believe they can be killed by psychic means, but no one doubts that he can be poisoned. When a death threat appears on the doorstep, prudent people throw out all their food and watch what they eat. Hardly anyone dies from magic. Most items on the doorstep are just a neighbor's way of saying,”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“Thallium-laced Coca-Colas were found in the Carr household, after weeks of searching, by state and federal environmental agencies. (The Carrs had vacated the house during the week of the hospitalizations and never had moved back.) When their next-door neighbor, Trepal, was asked why anyone would want to poison the family, he said,”
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.