Commonwealth v. Depina’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 39 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 41 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “To make an investigatory stop based solely on a physical description, the description need not be so particularized as to fit only a single person, but it cannot be so general that it would include a large number of people in the area where the stop occurs.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 641 - Commonwealth v. Jones · 92 Mass. App. Ct. 784 - Commonwealth v. Hilaire

2. “'[b]ecause the standard is reasonable suspicion rather than probable cause, a less rigorous showing in each of these areas is permissible' ... [and] independent police corroboration may 'make up for deficiencies in one or both of these factors.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 93 Mass. App. Ct. 6 - Commonwealth v. Gonzalez · 100 Mass. App. Ct. 211 - COMMONWEALTH v. D.M.

3. “[t]he gravity of the crime and the present danger of the circumstances may be considered in the reasonable suspicion calculus,”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 95 Mass. App. Ct. 641 - Commonwealth v. Jones · Commonwealth v. Manha