403 Pa. Super. 125 - Commonwealth v. Martinez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

47 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 47 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[I]n order for a stop, or “seizure”, to be reasonable, and therefore legal under Terry v. Ohio, the police officer’s reasonable and articulable belief that criminal activity was afoot must be linked with his observation of suspicious or irregular behavior on behalf of the particular defendant stopped. 364 Pa.Super. at 609 , 528 A.2d at 970 . Mere presence near a high crime area or in the vicinity of a recently reported crime does not justify a Terry stop. Id. Conversely, an officer’s observation of irregular behavior without a concurrent reasonable belief that crime is afoot renders a stop unreasonable. 364 Pa.Super. at 609-10 , 528 A.2d at 970 . What are the specific, articulable facts which would reasonably warrant a belief that criminal activity was afoot, when Officer Lee ordered Martinez to put her hands on the police vehicle? Martinez had walked quickly away from a street corner, at 12:20 a.m. She was holding her hands in the front of her coat and walking quickly up the street. There are no other articulable facts attributable to Martinez. This case is quite similar on its facts to those presented in Commonwealth v. Jeffries, 454 Pa. 320 , 311 A.2d 914 (1973). There, four police officers in an unmarked vehicle observed Jeffries walking along a public street. When Jeffries saw the officers, he quickened his pace. One officer left the vehicle and began to pursue Jeffries who then began to run. Before being overtaken, Jeffries threw a small package under a nearby automobil”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 423 Pa. Super. 549 - In the Interest of Barry W.

2. “A police officer is entitled to conduct a limited search of an individual to detect weapons if the officer observes unusual and suspicious conduct on the part of the individual which leads the officer to reasonably believe that criminal activity is afoot and that the person may be armed and dangerous.”

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