United States v. Colbert’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

12 federal appellate · 3 district · 5 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “... to the extent that Hodson and Falso suggest that evidence of a defendant’s tendency to sexually abuse or exploit children is irrelevant to the probable cause analysis, we respectfully disagree. Both courts based their conclusions on a categorical distinction between possession of child pornography and other types of sexual exploitation of children. But that distinction seems to be in tension both with common experience and a fluid, non-teehnical conception of probable cause. See Gates, 462 U.S. at 230-32, 103 S.Ct. 2317 . Evidence adduced to support probable cause must be “weighed not in terms of library analysis by scholars, but as understood by those versed in the field of law enforcement.” Id. at 232, 103 S.Ct. 2317 (internal quotation omitted). The probable cause analysis is “not readily, or even usefully, reduced to a neat set of legal rules.” Id. There is an intuitive relationship between acts such as child molestation or enticement and possession of child pornography. Child pornography is in many cases simply an electronic record of child molestation. Computers and internet connections have been characterized elsewhere as tools of the trade for those who sexually prey on children.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. United States v. Edwards · United States v. Manning

2. “it would strain credulity to believe that Colbert was attempting to lure the child there to watch, say, “Mary Poppins” or “The Sound of Music,” or to engage in basket weaving or a game of pickup sticks. The circumstances suggest that Colbert intended to victimize the child in some manner, and as the Supreme Court recognized nearly twenty years ago, “evidence suggests that pedophiles use child pornography to seduce other children into sexual activity.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. Virgin Islands v. John · People v. John

3. “Colbert’s attempt to entice a child was a factor that the judicial officer reasonably could have considered in determining whether Colbert likely possessed child pornography, all the more so in light of the evidence that Colbert heightened the allure of his attempted inveiglement by telling the child that he had movies she would like to watch. That information established a direct link to Colbert’s apartment and raised a fair question as to the nature of the materials to which he had referred.”

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