347 So. 2d 472 - Williams v. State’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. “The evidence shows that appellant was observed by several employees of Montgomery Ward walking through the store wearing a hat which she had not paid for. They observed her go out the door and then return when she knew she had been seen. She then took off the hat and tossed it down with a pair of the store’s gloves. She was then approached by the manager. He testified that upon apprehending appellant, he “asked her to step down back to the office, we needed to talk to her. She stated that she wasn’t coming back and I said that we’d have to take her back there forcibly if she didn’t want to go with us. She stopped, opened her purse, took out a cigarette, lit a cigarette and then she walked back with us.” Upon being asked if appellant said anything to him at that point, the manager replied, “She neither denied nor admitted the charge.” There is no affirmative testimony that appellant was actually interrogated by the manager. After the above quoted testimony, the manager said, “I left the scene, we walked back to my office. She came into my office and sat down. I had one of the ladies from the credit area come down and sit down to be present. I went in and picked up the store’s walki talki [sic] and paged the mall police.” The manager then testified that the officer came in and took appellant to their security office where he filled out his form and sealed the merchandise in a sack.”

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

2. “[A] merchant, or a merchant’s employee who has probable cause for believing that goods held for sale by the merchant have been unlawfully taken by a person and that he can recover them by taking the person into custody, may, for the purpose of attempting to effect such recovery, take the person into custody and detain him in a reasonable manner . . [Emphasis added.]”

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

3. “Here, the “merchant”, acting with this grant of sovereign authority, took appellant into his custody and interrogated her; thus, the custodial interrogation was conducted in a police-like atmosphere pursuant to the sovereign’s grant of such power.”

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