14 Va. App. 737 - Turner v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Probable cause, as the very name implies, deals with probabilities. These are not technical; they are factual and practical considerations in every day life on which reasonable and prudent men, not legal technicians, act.” Derr v. Commonwealth, 242 Va. 413, 421 , 410 S.E.2d 662, 666 (1991) (quoting Saunders v. Commonwealth, 218 Va. 294, 300 , 237 S.E.2d 150, 155 (1977)). Probable cause exists where the totality of the circumstances set forth in the affidavit supports a common sense decision by the magistrate that “there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 238 , 103 S.Ct. 2317 , [2332,] 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). “[P]robable cause is a fluid concept — turning on the assessment of probabilities in particular factual contexts— not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.” Id. at 232 [, 103 S.Ct. at 2329 ]. Because it is a fluid concept based on probabilities, the continued existence of probable cause at a particular time is dependent upon the circumstances. So long as probable cause continues to exist, the search will be valid. See [United States v. Bedford, 519 F.2d 650, 655 (3d Cir.1975)].”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 44 Va. App. 463 - Maye v. Commonwealth

2. “The ultimate criterion in determining the degree of evaporation of probable cause, however, is not case law but reason. The likelihood that the evidence sought is still in place is a function not simply of watch and calendar but of variables that do not punch a clock: the character of the crime (chance encounter in the night or regenerating conspiracy?), of the criminal (nomadic or entrenched?), of the thing to be seized (perishable and easily transferable or of enduring utility to its holder?), of the place to be searched (mere criminal forum of convenience or secure operational base?), etc. The observation of a half-smoked marijuana cigarette in an ashtray at a cocktail party may well be stale the day after the cleaning lady has been in; the observation of the burial of a corpse in a cellar may well not be stale three decades later. The hare and the tortoise do not disappear at the same rate of speed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 37 Va. App. 21 - Whitaker v. Commonwealth

3. “"Forthwith," within the context of Code § 19.2-56, does not mean immediately or as soon as physically possible. It does not mandate that officers must immediately execute the search warrant without regard to the circumstances that obtain. The fact that the statute provides that the warrant expires if not executed within fifteen days means that some latitude is provided for the time within which the search may be conducted. But, under that statute, "it is... necessary that search warrants be executed with some promptness in order to lessen the possibility that the facts upon which probable cause was initially based do not become dissipated."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hicks v. Com.