2012 Pa. Super. 112 - Commonwealth v. Garvin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We keep in mind that not every statement made by an individual during a police encounter constitutes an interrogation. Miranda rights are required only prior to a custodial interrogation. Custodial interrogation is questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of [his] freedom of action in any significant way. Furthermore, volunteered or spontaneous utterances by an individual are admissible -without the administration of Miranda warnings. When a defendant gives a statement without police interrogation, we consider the statement to be volunteered and not subject to suppression.... Interrogation is police conduct calculated to, expected to, or likely to evoke admission. In Commonwealth v. Sepulveda, 579 Pa. 217 , 855 A.2d 783, 796-797 (2004) (Castille concurring), cert. denied, 546 U.S. 1169 , 126 S.Ct. 1330 , 164 L.Ed.2d 47 (2006) our Supreme Court stated, inter alia, that a statement made in a custodial setting would not be suppressed where the suspect “spontaneously ‘blurts out’- the statement, ... or makes an incriminating statement in the course of ‘small talk’ with authorities, ... or is merely responding to biographical questioning,....” (internal citations omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2013 Pa. Super. 2 - Commonwealth v. Page