Sellars v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We think the cigarettes used to convict the defendant should not have been admitted as evidence. Even if it be assumed, without deciding, that the trooper was not a trespasser and that the trunk lid opened as a result of internal pressure when it was jiggled by the trooper, it is clear there was no reasonable ground or probable cause for him to believe that a felony had been committed and that the person arrested had committed the offense. [Citing cases.] At the time the arrest was made, the trooper did not know that a nearby service station had been broken into and robbed. Since the cigarettes were not contraband, the possession of which would have been illegal, it is clear that the mere presence of what appeared to be blood on some of the. cartons was not enough to warrant the arrest of the defendant or the seizure of the cigarettes under the circumstances. . .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Williams v. State