State v. Pierce’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We hold that the elements of Pierce’s offense include both his sending and the receiving of his e-mail. The [protective order] explicitly prohibited Pierce from making contact with [his former girlfriend]. “Contact” included electronic communication. And communicative “contact,” like all contact, occurs when the connection linking the participants is made. The implicit element of Pierce’s connection with [his former girlfriend] makes relevant the location where [she] received the e-mail. Pierce is correct that his single act of sending the e-mail was all the action necessary to violate the [protective order], but this is because his act of sending it intentionally set in motion the chain of events he designed to complete the connection, which included [his former girlfriend’s] act of opening the e-mail. Because [the former girlfriend’s] responsive opening was part of Pierce’s contact, and therefore also was an element of his offense of violating the [protective order], the place of the offense for venue purposes included the county of receipt. This holding mirrors the settled concept that venue is proper both where a criminal actor’s conduct occurs and where the resulting criminal impact occurs.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 58 Va. App. 466 - Spiker v. Commonwealth