United States v. Murphy’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 federal appellate · 2 district · 14 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 49 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A proper inventory search is merely an incidental administrative step following arrest and preceding incarceration, conducted to protect the arrestee from theft of his possessions, to protect the police from false accusations of theft, and to remove dangerous items from the arrestee prior to his jailing.” United States v. Banks, 482 F.3d 733, 739 (4th Cir. 2007) (internal citations and quotation marks omitted). An inventory search, however, must “be conducted according to standardized criteria,” such as a uniform police department policy. Colorado v. Bertine, 479 U.S. 367 , 374 n. 6, 107 S.Ct. 738 , 93 L.Ed.2d 739 (1987). For an inventory search to be lawful, the vehicle searched must be in the lawful custody of the police. “If the vehicle is in lawful custody, the police may inventory the vehicle, if such inventories are routine and conducted pursuant to the standard police procedures, so long as the purpose of the inventory is to secure the car or its contents and not to gather incriminating evidence against the owner.” United States v. Brown, 787 F.2d 929, 932 (4th Cir.1986).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 664 F. Supp. 2d 614 - United States v. German

2. “The evidence establishes that the initial search of the cell phone occurred in Murphy’s presence and at his direction, after he indicated to [a state trooper] that the phone contained phone numbers for people who could corroborate his identity. Another search of the cell phone occurred at the Sheriff’s Department during the course of the inventory search, when a supervising officer noted that the cell phone contained potentially incriminating information and directed [a trooper] to retain the cell phone as evidence in the case. Qf course, once the cell phone was held for evidence, other officers and investigators were entitled to conduct a further review of its contents, as [the DEA agent] did, without seeking a warrant. See United States v. Edwards, 415 U.S. 800, 803-04 , 94 S.Ct. 1234 , 39 L.Ed.2d 771 (1974). For these reasons, we conclude that the district court committed no error, plain or otherwise, in refusing to suppress the contents of Murphy’s cell phone.”

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

3. “Citing the 'manifest need ... to preserve evidence, this Court has held on at least two prior occasions, albeit in unpublished opinions, that officers may retrieve text messages and other information from cell phones and pagers seized incident to an arrest.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. People v. Taylor