Bethea v. Com.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “I looked at Mr. Bethea first. I glanced into the car. I had—I didn't know at that time if there was a weapon or what in the car. Couple of seconds later I asked him, would you please step out of the car. I took him in position right in front of his door near the hood of the car. There was a passenger in the rear seat, so at this time I asked the passenger in the rear seat to step out of the vehicle.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 14 Va. App. 474 - Bethea v. Commonwealth

2. “told Sergeant Paulus to pull back behind him a little bit. As we were pulling behind him, I checked his car. I wanted to see if there was anything suspicious. First thing I observed was the lack of a city sticker when we got back in the back of his car. I told Sergeant Paulus let's go ahead and pull him.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 14 Va. App. 474 - Bethea v. Commonwealth

3. “State v. Damm, 246 Kan. 220 , 787 P.2d 1185, 1189 (1990) (quoting Ybarra v. Illinois, 444 U.S. 85, 91 , 100 S.Ct. 338, 342 , 62 L.Ed.2d 238 (1979)). Indeed, the officer did more than order Bethea to exit the car. The officer”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 14 Va. App. 474 - Bethea v. Commonwealth