Wilson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 36 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The caretaking function has been recognized also as a general public welfare rule or what is sometimes known as the “public servant” exception. When the police act to protect the public in a manner outside their normal law enforcement function, many courts have applied the doctrine to validate many warrantless searches and seizures, and in a variety of circumstances. [United States v. Garner, 416 F.3d 1208 (10th Cir.2005) ] (officer exercised community caretaking function when he told defendant to come back and sit down so that fire department could examine him); [United States v. Miller, 589 F.2d 1117 (1st Cir.1978) ] (boarding an abandoned boat and finding evidence of narcotics trafficking was lawful under the community caretaking doctrine because the possible drowning of the boat owner was being investigated); People v. Ray, 21 Cal.4th 464 , 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 1 , 981 P.2d 928 (Cal.1999) (officers lawfully entered apartment in response to a call that it was in shambles and its door had been left ajar all day, to check on the welfare of the persons inside the apartment); People v. Luedemann, 222 Ill.2d 530 , 857 N.E.2d 187 , 306 Ill.Dec. 94 (Ill.2006) (officer exercised community caretaking function in checking on defendant, who appeared intoxicated and was seated in driver’s seat of parked car at night); [State v. Dube, 655 A.2d 338 (Me.1995) ] (initial entry of police into defendant’s apartment to oversee custodian’s plumbing re pair lawful as a community caretaking function)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 208 Md. App. 309 - Olson v. State

2. “The most intrusive encounter is an arrest, which requires probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing a crime. The second category is the investigatory stop or detention, known commonly as a Terry stop, an encounter considered less intrusive than a formal custodial arrest and one which must be supported by reasonable suspicion that a person has committed or is about to commit a crime and permits an officer to stop and briefly detain an individual. The third contact is considered the least intrusive police-citizen contact, and one which involves no restraint of liberty and elicits an individual’s voluntary cooperation with non-coercive police contact. A consensual encounter, or a mere accosting, need not be supported by any suspicion and because an individual is free to leave at any time during such an encounter, the Fourth Amendment is not implicated; thus, an individual is not considered to have been “seized” within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 224 Md. App. 631 - Chase v. State

3. “Because of the extensive regulation of motor vehicles and traffic, and also because of the frequency with which a vehicle can become disabled or involved in an accident on public highways, the extent of police-citizen contact involving automobiles will be substantially greater than police-citizen contact in a home or office. Some such contacts will occur because the officer may believe the operator has violated a criminal statute, but many more will not be of that nature. Local police officers, unlike federal officers, frequently investigate vehicle accidents in which there is no claim of criminal liability and engage in what, for want of a better term, may be described as community caretaking functions, totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dehn Motor Sales, LLC v. Schultz