Nelson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The facts show that the small house was used no differently from an extra bedroom to the stepfather’s residence. Defendant slept in the small house but paid no rent and owned none of the building’s contents. He ate his evening meals, kept his clothing and also bathed in the large house. Even the very circumstances of defendant’s changing his sleeping place to the small house suggest he merely “changed rooms” for the convenience of his mother’s baby sitting business.... In sum, defendant had no more control or exclusive right over the small house than he did over a bedroom in the large house when he stayed there. In this Court’s opinion the stepfather still had access and control for most purposes over the small house at the time he consented to its warrantless search. Therefore, the consent to search was valid....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dyer v. State

2. “Common authority is, of course, not to be implied from the mere property interest a third party has in the property. The authority which justifies the third-party consent does not rest upon the law of property, with its attendant historical and legal ramifications, but rests rather on mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the coinha-bitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dyer v. State