2007 Pa. Super. 25 - Commonwealth v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
2007
Citation profile
9 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 9 later decisions — most recently February 2024
9 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Millili v. Commonwealth, Department of Transportation, Bureau of Driver Licensing · Commonwealth v. Lord · Commonwealth v. Barud · Commonwealth v. Mikulan · Commonwealth v. Cook
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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he officer must articulate specific observations which, in conjunction with reasonable inferences derived from these observations, led him reasonably to conclude, in light of his experience, that criminal activity was afoot ... In order to determine whether the police officer had reasonable suspicion, the totality of the circumstances must be considered. In making this determination, we must give due weight ... to the specific reasonable inferences [the police officer] is entitled to draw from the facts in light of his experience. Also, the totality of the circumstances test does not limit our inquiry to an examination of only those facts that clearly indicate criminal conduct. Rather, even a combination of innocent facts, when taken together, may warrant further investigation by the police officer.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“[T]he probable cause standard enunciated by [Commonwealth v. Gleason, 567 Pa. 111 , 785 A.2d 983 (2001)] has been superseded by 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 6308(b), which was amended on September 30, 2003, effective February 1, 2004. Martin v. Commonwealth, 588 Pa. 429 , 905 A.2d 438, 450 (2006) (Eakin, J. Concurring) ("Effective February 1, 2004, the General Assembly 'lowered the quantum of cause an officer must possess from ‘articulable and reasonable grounds’ [which is equivalent to probable cause] to ‘reasonable suspicion' to conduct a vehicle stop.”).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Whenever a police officer is engaged in a systematic program of checking vehicles or drivers or has reasonable suspicion that a violation of this title is occurring or has occurred, he may stop a vehicle, upon request or signal, for the purpose of checking the vehicle’s registration, proof of financial responsibility, vehicle identification number or engine number or the driver's license, or to secure such other information as the officer may reasonably believe to be necessary to enforce the provisions of this title.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.