Padgett v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “[T]he arresting officer testified that the sole purpose of the roadblock was to check for valid driver’s licenses. However, the intent or purpose of the stop must be measured by all the circumstances surrounding the stop. If all traffic traveling in both directions is stopped in broad daylight on a street heavily traversed by a wide variety of citizens, we would have little problem determining the intent of the stop. On the other hand, if the roadblock occurs in the middle of the night and stops all traffic traveling away from the bars on a street where bars are closing the intent is not as clear.... The check began at 1:45 a.m., about the time when the bars were closing. It was just down the street from a number of bars. The check only stopped traffic traveling away from the bars and toward a residential area; it did not stop traffic coming from the residential area toward the bars. All the officers on the check were members of the Driving While Intoxicated Squad. Given all these circumstances, it becomes apparent that the roadblock was there for the specific purpose of catching drunk drivers. The arresting officer’s testimony that the stop was solely for the purpose of checking driver’s licenses is not sufficiently persuasive to contradict the apparent intent of the stop as demonstrated by the circumstances. Therefore, we hold that the seizure of appellant was not pursuant to a routine driver’s license check as authorized under article 6687b, § 13.”

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

2. “Article 6687b, § 13, of the Texas Revised Civil Statutes authorizes any peace officer to “stop and detain any motor vehicle operator for the purpose of determining whether such person has a driver’s license.” TEX.REV.CIV.STAT. ANN. art. 6687b, § 13 (Vernon Supp. 1986). The courts of this state have consistently held that a driver’s license check must be the sole purpose for such, a stop, to-wit: to determine whether the driver had a valid driver’s license. Meeks v. State, 692 S.W.2d 504, 508 (Tex. Crim.App.1985), and cases cited therein. “If a license check is not the sole reason for a detention, that detention is not authorized by the statute and cannot be upheld.” Meeks, 692 S.W.2d at 508 , citing Fatemi v. State, 558 S.W.2d 463 (Tex.Crim.App.1977).”

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