People v. Ratcliff’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

41 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 41 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “'more likely true than false' level of certitude but by a common-sense, nontechnical standard of reasonable cause to believe, with due consideration being given to a police officer's experience and training in determining the significance of his observations to the ultimate issue of probable cause.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. People v. King · People v. Campbell

2. “When viewed in isolation, the discrete acts of the defendant are not dispositive and could be rationalized as involving only ‘suspicious behavior.’ The defendant’s actions, however, are not independent. When viewed in their entirety, the individual acts fit together like pieces of a puzzle, and provide a reasonable basis for concluding that a drug transaction has taken place.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. People v. Saint-Veltri

3. “While an officer’s subjective intent is a factor which a court may consider in determining whether the purpose of an intrusion was reasonable, it is not critical to a resolution of that question. What is determinative is whether the purpose of the intrusion was reasonable in light of the objective circumstances confronting the officer at the time and place in question.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. People v. Sosbe