343 Pa. Super. 400 - Commonwealth v. Curry’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[Police] had no way of knowing whether or not anyone else was in the apartment. More importantly, police knew that a shooting incident had just occurred, an eyewitness identified defendant as the assailant, defendant was observed to be sweaty and his shirt was blood-spattered, and the gun used in the shooting incident was not yet accounted for when they arrested defendant on his porch. Under these circumstances, it was not unreasonable for police to enter the apartment and make a brief security check to ensure that no one remained inside the apartment who might use the as yet unaccounted for weapon. Such conduct is perfectly consistent with the rationale underlying the exigent circumstances doctrine, namely: the need to ensure the safety of police officers. In an emergency situation such as this, the potential threat of the unknown can be more dangerous than the threat of the known. We think it is unreasonable to ask police officers arriving at the scene of a shooting incident and arresting defendant on his porch, to assume that nobody else was in defendant’s apartment.”

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

2. “It would be stretching the boundaries of logic to hold that the need to ensure the safety of an arresting officer (and, in this case, the people who had gathered near the apartment) is not as great when he arrests a suspect on his porch, in front of the screen door, as when he arrests a suspect inside the apartment, just on the other side of the screen door. Furthermore, it is clear from the facts of this case that police could have legally arrested defendant inside of his apartment. A crime of violence had been committed; it was reasonable to assume that the suspect had a gun; police had probable cause to arrest; and they had a strong reason to believe that the suspect was on the premises.”

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

3. “[Arresting officers are permitted to conduct a brief search of the entire building, within which the accused is arrested, for the limited purpose of seeking other people who may threaten the officers’ well being, provided, of course, that such officers have reason to believe that other people are present.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 1999 Pa. Super. 61 - Commonwealth v. Crouse