Commonwealth v. Garnett’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Garnett himself first contacted police to offer information he said he had withheld at the time of the crimes six months before. After several conversations with police, Garnett requested they pick him up and take him to the station for a discussion. He was picked up at 8:30 a.m. and transported to the police station. On his arrival, he was informed he was not in custody and was free to leave, and he was given Miranda warnings. Between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m., he gave a statement implicating his father in the crimes. The police requested he submit to a polygraph examination in Philadelphia to which he agreed. On arrival in Philadelphia at noon and after Miranda warnings, Garnett took the polygraph examination, and, immediately after completion of the examination at 3:30 p.m., he admitted his own involvement. Only at that time did he become a suspect. He was placed under arrest and again given Miranda warnings, and he then gave a statement and signed a transcription. Garnett was returned to Chester and fed, and a confirmatory statement was taken after Miranda warnings. His arraignment took place at 7:30 or 8:30 p.m. that evening. Thus there was a delay of five hours at most between Garnett’s arrest and arraignment. Under the circumstances, the statement could not have been the product of unnecessary delay because there was no unnecessary delay. See Commonwealth v. Coley, 466 Pa. 53 , 351 A.2d 617 (1976) (Plurality Opinion).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 418 Pa. Super. 58 - Commonwealth v. Garnett