783 So. 2d 226 - State v. Maynard’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

43 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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[T]he courts have quite properly drawn a distinction between [a criminal informant] and the average citizen who by happenstance finds himself in the position of a victim of or a witness to criminal conduct and thereafter relates to the police what he knows as a matter of civic duty. One who qualifies as the latter type of individual, sometimes referred to as a "citizen-informer," is more deserving of a presumption of reliability than the informant from the criminal milieu. As Justice Harlan pointed out in United States v. Harris , the ordinary citizen who has never before reported a crime to the police may, in fact, be more reliable than one who supplies information on a regular basis. "The latter is likely to be someone who is himself involved in criminal activity or is, at least, someone who enjoys the confidence of criminals."”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. A.D. J. v. State · 958 So. 2d 455 - State v. Woldridge

2. “`citizen-informant,' whose information is at the high end of the tip-reliability scale,”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 884 So. 2d 330 - State v. Gonzalez · 936 So. 2d 1218 - Vanslyke v. State

3. “A citizen-informant is one who is `motivated not by pecuniary gain, but by the desire to further justice.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 958 So. 2d 455 - State v. Woldridge · 957 So. 2d 111 - Manning v. State