United States v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis
556 F.2d 304 · 1977
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 1 district · 4 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 8 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2004
1 federal appellate · 1 district · 4 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 3109 · 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (§ 201 of the Gun Control Act of 1968)
Relies on Isbell Enterprises, Inc. v. Citizens Casualty Co. of New York · Bates v. State Bar · United States v. Agrusa · United States v. Seelig · Payne v. United States
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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Agents of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau obtained a valid warrant to search appellant’s residence for unregistered firearms. Accompanied by a local deputy sheriff who knew appellant, the federal agents surrounded the house, knocked on doors and windows, and announced their identity. They did not announce that they had a search warrant. There was no response to their knocks and calls, so, assuming that Brown was not on the premises, the officers dispatched the deputy sheriff to find Brown. After searching for over an hour without locating Brown, the deputy sheriff returned to the residence where the federal officers were keeping watch. Again they knocked and announced their identity, but they did not announce their purpose —the execution of the warrant. Being reasonably certain that the residence was unoccupied, the agents broke a pane of glass, unlocked a door and entered. They found an unregistered machine gun in the house. The house was, in fact, unoccupied.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“The three interests which are protected by requiring announcement and refusal prior to breaking in are: (1) the prevention of violence and physical injury to the police and the occupants; (2) the unexpected exposure of the private activities of the occupants; (3) the property damage resulting from forced entry. Only the third and least significant in terms of individual privacy can possibly be involved when the occupant is absent from the premises. It is futile to require the police to wait for refusal of admittance to a dwelling when no one is home, (footnote omitted).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.