State v. Damron’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

32 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 33 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"Although each bit of information ..., by itself, may not be enough to establish probable cause and some of the information may have an innocent explanation, `"probable cause is the sum total of layers of information and the synthesis of what the police have heard, what they know, and what they observed as trained officers ... which is not weighed in individual layers but in the `laminated' total."'"”

   7 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Duchene · State v. Doohen

2. ““Probable cause to search does not require the same standard of proof necessary to establish guilt at a trial; rather, probable cause to search exists if it is established that certain identifiable objects are probably connected with criminal activity and are probably to be found at the present time at an identifiable place.” All the information presented to establish probable cause should be taken together, not analyzed in a piecemeal fashion. The magistrate is to make a practical, commonsense decision on whether probable cause exists to search that particular place. We generally defer to a magistrate’s determination of probable cause, and will not disturb a magistrate’s conclusion that probable cause exists if there is a substantial basis for the conclusion. When reviewing a magistrate’s determination of probable cause, a doubtful or marginal case should be resolved in favor of the magistrate’s determination. We apply the totality-"of-the-circumstances test to review whether information before the magistrate was sufficient to find probable cause, independent of the trial court’s findings. More than “bare-bones” information must be presented to the magistrate' in order to establish probable cause. “Although each bit of information ..., by itself, may not be enough to establish probable cause and some of the information may have an innocent explanation, ‘probable cause is the sum total of layers of information and the synthesis of what the police have heard, what they know, a”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Tester · State v. Schmitt

3. “[Ejntry into the building was probably gained through forcible entry of a rear garage door on the back of the Site on Sound building. The burglar disabled an on-site audible alarm system inside of the Site on Sound building by cutting wires inside of the building. It was also determined that suspect must have passed through a motion detector device intended to send a silent alarm to the Fargo Police Department. It was later determined that the motion detector device was inactive because U.S. West telephone lines outside of the Site on Sound building had also been cut. Therefore, the silent alarm was inactive. Your affiant further learned in the investigation that the burglar took approximately $60,000 worth of stereo and electronic equipment from Site on Sound by loading it into a truck which had been left inside of the Site on Sound building.”

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