Commonwealth v. Leslie’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “explained [that] a police officer, like any other citizen, has an implied license to walk up the path to the front door of a home and knock on the front door. That license, however, is limited in scope, purpose, and duration.... Here, Detective Griffin and the other officers were entitled to open the front gate, walk up the path and onto the porch, and engage Price and his guests in conversation. In veering off the path and venturing into the side yard of the home for the purpose of conducting a search for the weapon, Detective Griffin engaged in the precise conduct that Jardines found offensive to the Fourth Amendment. See [ Jardines , supra at 9 ] ('the background social norms that invite a visitor to the front door do not invite him there to conduct a search'). Just as the police officers in Jardines exceeded the scope of their license when they used a drug-sniffing dog to search the front porch, here Detective Griffin had neither express nor implied license to search the side yard and porch area. See ibr.US_Case_Law.Schema.Case_Body:v1”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Lohse · 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1128 - Commonwealth v. Dobson

2. “steps were clearly taken to obscure the view of the side yard and the area under the porch where the sawed-off shotgun was found. A large blue recycling bin was placed in front of the area, which obstructed the view from the street. Additionally, the large wooden fence obscured the view of the area from the left side of the yard where the sawed-off shotgun was found. Although Detective Griffin testified that the fence in the front yard did not obstruct his view completely, his testimony established that he could not see what Leslie was manipulating under the porch because his view from the street was obscured.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1128 - Commonwealth v. Dobson

3. “[t]he front yard was enclosed with a chain link fence and the left border of the front yard was enclosed with a large wooden fence about five to six feet away from the porch where the sawed-off shotgun was recovered. Additionally, the chain link fence enclosed both the house and the porch area, allowing the inference that the porch and side yard 'should be treated as an adjunct to the house.' Dunn , 480 U.S. at 302 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 92 Mass. App. Ct. 1128 - Commonwealth v. Dobson