United States v. Gibson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 federal appellate · 2 district · 1 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... Gibson was involved in arranging for Federal Express to ship from Los Ange-les two boxes containing cocaine, one to an apartment in Silver Spring, Maryland and one to an address in the District of Columbia. The government’s evidence showed that three men, who claimed not to be together although they conversed together, entered a Federal Express office in Los Angeles on April 14, 1994. Two of the men each carried a box, and the third man leaned on the counter. Gonzaver Braziel, a Federal Express employee who processed one of the packages, identified Gibson in a photo array as possibly being the third man and at trial identified Gibson as that man. After the three men left, Federal Express employees, whose suspicions were aroused by the behavior of the three men and certain details of the shipments, notified security personnel, who determined, upon x-raying the boxes, that they appeared to contain drugs. Federal Express employees opened one box and found a white powdery substance. The box was resealed, and both boxes were shipped to Federal Express headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, and then to the District of Columbia, where Federal Express delivered the two boxes to United States Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) agents. After searching the boxes pursuant to search warrants, DEA agents found that the powdery substance field-tested positive for cocaine: the box addressed to Maryland contained 2.994kg of 86% pure cocaine hydrochloride, and the box addressed to the Di”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 577 F. Supp. 2d 317 - United States v. Gibson

2. “Gibson was arrested with the Maryland box in his possession, and the jury heard testimony both that he had been expecting the box and that he intended to deliver it to a third party. Moreover, he had sender’s receipts from both the Maryland and District of Columbia boxes, and the jury heard testimony that he had traveled to Los Angeles around the time they were shipped. He was found with false identifications matching the names of the shipper and addressee of the Maryland box. The recipients of the District of Columbia box were also found with a notebook containing the names on Gibson’s false identifications and an insurance card and a supermarket card issued in Gibson’s own name as well as a napkin matching the address to which the Maryland box was delivered. A reasonable jury could conclude beyond a reasonable doubt, on the evidence presented, that Gibson possessed and conspired to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 577 F. Supp. 2d 317 - United States v. Gibson