Flowers v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Generally, a show of force, including the use of drawn weapons, does not render an investigative stop unreasonable if the police determine that it is reasonably necessary to protect themselves and maintain the status quo. ... Similarly, forcing a detainee to lie down to prevent flight might be justified under the circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Murray

2. “a seizure has occurred under Article I, § 6 of the Delaware Constitution requires focusing upon the police officer's actions to determine when a reasonable person would have believed he or she was not free to ignore the police presence”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Murray

3. “When the Covington officers stopped Hensley, they were authorized to take such steps as were reasonably necessary to protect their personal safety and to maintain the status quo during the course of the stop.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Murray