Commonwealth v. Kelly’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We find that the setting and circumstances of this case do not support a conclusion that the tip was truly "anonymous." While the tipsters did not give their names, they (1) identified themselves as employees of the Waffle House restaurant; and (2) provided the location of the particular restaurant where they worked. This information alone raises a strong presumption that these informants could likely be located in the event that their tip was determined to be false or made for the purpose of harassment. However, in addition to the identifying information given over the telephone, Officer Hastings reasonably believed that he had face-to-face contact with the actual tipsters when he pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and observed two people (1) waiting outside for him; and (2) pointing toward a vehicle that had the same description as the one provided in the dispatch broadcast.... When all these facts are considered in their totality (including and especially the pre-detention investigation which verified most of the information given by the tipsters), it is clear to us that this tip was generated from identifiable informants as opposed to anonymous informants.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Garcia v. Commonwealth

2. “are generally competent to support a finding of reasonable suspicion (and in some cases, probable cause) whereas the same tip from a truly anonymous source would likely not have supported such a finding.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Garcia v. Commonwealth

3. “What distinguishes a `citizen informant' tip from other types of tips is the fact that such tipsters are almost always bystanders or eyewitness-victims of alleged criminal activity.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Garcia v. Commonwealth