27 Va. App. 233 - Neal v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

37 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 41 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘[W]hen the police stop a motor vehicle and detain an occupant, this constitutes a seizure of the person for Fourth Amendment purposes.’ ” Logan v. Commonwealth, 19 Va.App. 437, 441 , 452 S.E.2d 364, 367 (1994) (quoting Zimmerman v. Commonwealth, 234 Va. 609, 611 , 363 S.E.2d 708, 709 (1988)). “In order to justify an investigatory stop of a vehicle, the officer must have some reasonable, articulable suspicion that the vehicle or its occupants are involved in, or have recently been involved in, some form of criminal activity.” Logan, 19 Va.App. at 441 , 452 S.E.2d at 367 . “To determine whether an officer has articulated a reasonable basis to suspect criminal activity, a court must consider the totality of the circumstances, including the officer’s knowledge, training, and experience.” Freeman v. Commonwealth, 20 Va.App. 658, 661 , 460 S.E.2d 261, 262 (1995) (citing Murphy v. Commonwealth, 9 Va.App. 139, 144 , 384 S.E.2d 125, 128 (1989)). “‘[A] trained law enforcement officer may [be able to] identify criminal behavior which would appear innocent to an untrained observer.’ ” Freeman, 20 Va.App. at 661 , 460 S.E.2d at 262 (quoting Taylor v. Commonwealth, 6 Va.App. 384, 388 , 369 S.E.2d 423, 425 (1988)).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 37 Va. App. 120 - Lovelace v. Commonwealth

2. “Ultimate questions of reasonable suspicion and probable cause ... involve questions of both law and fact and are reviewed de novo on appeal. This Court is bound by the trial court’s findings of historical fact unless plainly wrong or without evidence to support them and we give due weight to the inferences drawn from those facts by resident judges and local law enforcement officers.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 38 Va. App. 680 - Harris v. Commonwealth

3. “constantly moving from side to side in its lane”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Pratt