United States v. Stephens’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “On April 18, 2006, Stephens received a telephone call from Edward Sumbera, a drug user with whom he had previously dealt. Sumbera requested that Stephens meet with him the following day to sell him an eighth of an ounce of powder cocaine. Stephens agreed. The two met as arranged in a McDonald’s parking lot in Saginaw, Michigan. With their vehicles parked beside each other, Stephens approached Sumbera’s passenger-side window. According to the government, Stephens then passed a package containing 2.46 grams of powder cocaine to Sumbera, who gave him $130 in cash. Sumbera, who had arranged the sale in cooperation with the police in order to avoid prosecution for driving after his license had been suspended, proceeded to turn the drugs over to the officers who had observed the meeting between Stephens and Sumbera. In an unrelated incident on June 8, 2006, drug enforcement officers executing a search warrant encountered Stephens standing on a wheelchair ramp leading to the door of the Saginaw house they intended to search. The officers ordered him to put his hands in the air. Rather than complying, Stephens reached into the front of his pants, removed a white packet, and dropped it onto the ground nearby. One of the officers ran over to collect the packet, which was later determined to contain 3.01 grams of crack cocaine. As a result of these two incidents, Stephens was indicted under 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1) on one count of distributing less than 500 grams of powder cocaine and on ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Damon Stephens

2. “(b) Other Crimes, Wrongs, or Acts— Evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts is not admissible to prove the character of a person in order to show action in conformity therewith. It may, however, be admissible for other purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity, or absence of mistake or accident. ...”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Tyshan Wheeler

3. “failing to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range, treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the [18 U.S.C.] § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen sentence — including an explanation for any deviation from the Guidelines range.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. United States v. Christopher Simpson