Dunn v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

31 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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The rule that emerges from the case law and that must govern the disposition of this case may be restated as follows: upon the lawful, non-pretextual arrest of an individual for a crime, evidence of which could be concealed on the person ... the arrestee's person, his clothing and articles which, akin to clothing, are immediately associated with the person of the arrestee may be searched at the time of the arrest, or within a reasonable period thereafter. As long as the search is confined within these limits, it is permissible for officers to open and inspect the contents of any closed containers found, unless, under the circumstances, it could not reasonably be believed that the container would yield a weapon or evidence of the crime for which the arrest was made.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ricks v. State · Wilburn v. State

2. “Accordingly, it is well established that probable cause for arrest will exist when facts and circumstances known to a police officer would justify a man of reasonable caution in believing that an offense had been or was being committed and that the person to be arrested is the one who committed it. Schmid v. State, 615 P.2d 565, 574 (Alaska 1980).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Burdine · Ingram v. State

3. “We perceive virtually no distinction between Dunn's placement of his jacket next to his left leg and the placement of a jacket over the back of a chair, as occurred in McCoy . In both instances, articles of personal clothing were involved, and they were in the immediate control of the arrestee at the time of the arrest. We do not think it significant that Dunn was being placed under arrest at the rear of the van when his jacket was actually seized and searched. The circumstances are, in this respect, closely analogous to those of Hinkel . As in Hinkel , the exigencies of the search in this case must be determined with reference to the time that Dunn was initially ordered from the van to be taken into custody. As long as the jacket was in Dunn's immediate control as he sat in Shelton's van, it is not important that the jacket and its contents were first searched after Dunn was in custody and could not have gained access to the jacket.”

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