785 So. 2d 1224 - Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 18 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a citizen may either voluntarily comply with a police officer’s requests or choose to ignore them. Because the citizen is free to leave during a consensual encounter, constitutional safeguards are not invoked.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Davenport · 965 So. 2d 1197 - PW v. State

2. “Deputy Alex McDonald, an eighteen year veteran of the Broward County Sheriff's Office, was on routine patrol at about 3:51 a.m. on October 5, 1999. He saw appellant Claude Johnson standing by a pay phone at a twenty-four hour gas station. Johnson was staring off into space. McDonald thought that Johnson looked lost, as if he had wandered off from the nearby hospital or nursing home. McDonald, during his seven years of patrolling that area, had encountered similar incidents with patients wandering the area. After watching Johnson for a few minutes from the other side of the parking lot, the deputy drove his patrol car over to Johnson. At this point, he did not suspect Johnson of any criminal activity. Johnson began to walk away from the cruiser. The deputy got out of the car. He called over, "Excuse me, sir. Can I speak to you a minute?" He did not order Johnson to stop. Johnson walked over and spoke to Deputy McDonald as they stood next to the pay phone. The deputy asked Johnson his name and where he lived and began to fill out a field interview card. During this brief conversation, Johnson shook violently, which Deputy McDonald found to be unusual. Johnson appeared to be nervous. He had a bulge in his front left pocket, that "seemed to fill most of his pocket." He kept reaching toward the bulge. Concerned that Johnson might have a weapon in his pocket, Deputy McDonald terminated the conversation and directed him to assume the pat down position. Johnson complied. As soon as t”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 921 So. 2d 873 - DeLorenzo v. State

3. “a [weapons] pat down is authorized when ... the officer has probable cause to believe that the person stopped is armed with a dangerous weapon”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 849 So. 2d 1222 - Ray v. State