Commonwealth v. DeWitt’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

183 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 183 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that] where a motion to suppress has been filed, the burden is on the Commonwealth to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the challenged evidence is admissible. In reviewing the ruling of a suppression court, our task is to determine whether the factual findings are supported by the record. If so, we are bound by those findings. Where, as here, it is the Commonwealth who is appealing the decision of the suppression court, we must consider only the evidence of the defendant’s witnesses and so much of the evidence for the prosecution as read in the context of the record as a whole remains uncontradicted.”

   13 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 427 Pa. Super. 1 - Commonwealth v. Carroll · 1999 Pa. Super. 247 - Commonwealth v. Pitts

2. “[t]he police had previous notice from the property owner of criminal behavior in the church parking lot, there was absolutely no evidence that the vehicle in question was engaged in the type of activity complained of. Additionally, this Court has held that flight, in and of itself, does not constitute probable cause to arrest. We would be hard pressed to find that flight, in and of itself, constitutes reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct. Based upon the remaining facts, we find that there was insufficient evidence to make an investigative stop. We hold, therefore, that the police did not have ... reasonable suspicion of criminal conduct to justify the stop made in the instant case.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2000 Pa. Super. 91 - Commonwealth v. McClease

3. ““ferry and its progeny recognize that some seizures admittedly covered by the Fourth Amendment constitute such limited intrusions on the personal security of those detained and are justified by such substantial law enforcement interests that they may be made on less than probable cause, so long as the police have an articulable basis for suspecting criminal activity. ” DeWitt, supra at 307, 608 A.2d at 1034 (quoting Commonwealth v. Lovette, 498 Pa. 665, 673 , 450 A.2d 975, 979 (1982)). (emphasis added)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Bucher