People v. Coffey’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 federal appellate · 12 state decisions

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 64 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““» -* * a showing of probable cause necessarily depended in part upon the information furnished by the unknown informer. The law enforcement officials, it is true, testified that they ‘checked’ the story given by the informer — and we have no reason to disbelieve them — but the fact remains that the conclusion that the informer actually existed and that he gave the information ascribed to him depended solely upon their own testimony. Accordingly, since the defendant had no effective way of contradicting or impeaching this testimony without knowledge of the informer’s identity, disclosure should have been required. It may well be that the proof of the defendant’s guilt is clear but that does not decide this appeal, for, as the court emphasized in the Roviaro case ( 353 U.S. 53, 60 , 77 S.Ct. 623 , supra), ‘fundamental requirements of fairness’ are involved.” 34”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. United States Ex Rel. Coffey v. Fay

2. “[t]his presumption is rebutted if, applying the reasonable, prudent person test, the arresting officer, acting in good faith, had `reasonable cause 11 for believing the person to be arrested to have committed [a felony].'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jenkins v. City of New York