Zsupnik v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 1 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Although the literal provisions of AS 12.25.150(b) and Alaska Criminal Rule 5(b) do not distinguish between attorneys, relatives and friends, the Supreme Court's decision in Copelin was expressly limited to calls made for the purpose of consulting with counsel. In deciding to read the language of AS 12.25.150(b) and Alaska Criminal Rule 5(b) as requiring an opportunity to call counsel before administration of a breath test, the Copelin court carefully weighed the state's interest in promptly obtaining valuable evidence against the substantial individual interest in consulting with an attorney before deciding whether to submit to a breath test. Concluding that the right to consult with counsel was of compelling and overriding significance under the circumstances, the court required that the individual right be given priority over the police interest in obtaining prompt test results. In cases where DWI arrestees are interested in calling a friend or a relative, rather than an attorney, however, there appears to be no equally compelling interest to tip the balance away from allowing the police to complete the routine DWI arrest process, except to the extent that the arrestee's purpose in calling a friend or relative is to secure counsel ... [When] this purpose is adequately communicated to the police, an immediate call must be allowed... . [However, when] no reason is given by a DWI arrestee for a request to contact a friend or relative, the police may defer the request until [a”

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

2. “(Nani) Zsupnik was arrested for DWI in Valdez. Upon arrest, she repeatedly requested the opportunity to contact her uncle. Although she intended to ask her uncle for assistance in finding an attorney, Zsupnik did not make her purpose known to the police, nor did she directly request an opportunity to contact an attorney. The police told Zsupnik that she would not be allowed to call her uncle until she had completed the process of taking the Intoximeter test. Zsupnik proceeded to take the test, which revealed a score in excess of the legal limit.”

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