Commonwealth v. Hicks’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It is important to note that all the officer did when he saw appellant appearing to be hiding something under the raincoat he held on his arm was to approach him and ask him what he had! At this point there was no detention, no frisk, and no search. There is no indication that appellant considered himself in custody, that he was not free to leave, or that he did not respond voluntarily. “The officer could plainly have approached appellant and put questions to him without any suspicion whatsoever. “In this instance, the combined fact of appellant wearing one raincoat and carrying another, with something apparently concealed under the second, and with appellant further attempting to hide it on seeing the officer approach, would beyond any question warrant the mere questioning of appellant by the officer. “In his dissenting opinion in Hicks, supra, Judge Hoffman begins by saying, ‘I agree with the majority that a police officer may stop a person on the streets for brief questioning, if he “reasonably suspects” that that person has committed a felony.’ “Even applying Judge Hoffman’s formulation, the conduct of appellant in attempting to conceal from the officer’s view what was under the raincoat would support the reasonable suspicion either that it was not his and was therefore stolen, or that it was something the possession of which would of itself be a crime.””

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