Foster v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The reporter's record shows that Detective Thomas “decided to detain” the driver because he thought the truck’s erratic movements and proximity to his own car were unsafe. Thomas was also concerned that the driver was impaired "due to where we were at downtown and the time of night.” Was Foster detained when Thomas decided to detain him, as the defense implies? No, because the reasonableness test is objective. An officer’s secret ambition to detain therefore cannot be dispositive. Moreover, nothing in the record up to that point speaks to any show of police authority or restraint on Foster's freedom to drive away. Instead, the record shows that, after Thomas observed the erratic driving behavior, he and Officer de [sic] los Santos approached Foster’s truck, which was already at a standstill of its own accord. Both officers- detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverages about the driver. Thomas testified that Foster was then "removed from the vehicle.” It is reasonable to infer from this that Foster was detained when he got out of his truck so that police could investigate intoxication.”

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

2. “At the suppression hearing, the State did not contend that the detention occurred only after Thomas and De Los Santos detected the odor of alcoholic beverages, nor did it argue that the detention was justified by any traffic violations. Instead, the State took the position that Thomas had reasonable suspicion to detain Foster based on his unsafe and erratic driving, combined with the lateness of the hour and the proximity of the Sixth Street bar district.”). 7 . See Woods v. State, 956 S.W.2d 33, 38 (Tex.Crim.App.1997) (holding that the”

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

3. “1. Whether the Third Court erred in applying the “as consistent with innocence as with criminal activity” standard in analyzing the totality of the circumstances and determining whether the of- fleers had reasonable suspicion to detain. 7 2. Whether the Third Court failed to give appropriate deference to the trial court’s implied factual findings when it held that Foster was detained “when he found himself barricaded on the front and side by two vehicles, one of which was a marked police car.” 8”

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