GREENWADE v. State’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. “if in this case Detective Bishop had found one large plastic bagful of powder inside the green bag Appellant led him to, there would be no question that testing a sample and weighing the powder would yield sufficient evidence to prove Appellant possessed more than 200 grams of cocaine or a mixture of cocaine. But take that same bagful of powder and split it into nine small saleable packets, and [Ross and its progeny] hold that to prove the weight element of trafficking, the State now must test a sample from each packet, determine which contain cocaine, and weigh only those — even if presumptive field testing detects cocaine in every packet ... and other circumstances, such as the way the packets are bundled together [] or an admission by the defendant [] would permit a jury to reasonably infer all the packets contain an illegal substance.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 124 So. 3d 215 - Greenwade v. State

2. “Any person who knowingly sells, purchases, manufactures, delivers, or brings into this state, or who is knowingly in actual or constructive possession of, 28 grams or more of cocaine, as described in s. 893.03(2)(a)4., or of any mixture containing cocaine, but less than 150 kilograms of cocaine or any such mixture, commits a felony of the first degree, which felony shall be known as “trafficking in cocaine,” ... If the quantity involved: [[Image here]] b. Is 200 grams or more, but less than 400 grams, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 7 years, and the defendant shall be ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 124 So. 3d 215 - Greenwade v. State

3. “The legislature has broad discretion in determining necessary measures for the protection of the public health, safety, and welfare, and we may not substitute our judgment for that of the legislature as to the wisdom or policy of a legislative act. Section 893.135(l)(b) bears a reasonable relationship to the legitimate state objective of protection of the public health, safety, and welfare. The legislature reasonably could have concluded that a mixture containing cocaine could be distributed to a greater number of •people than the same amount of undiluted cocaine and thus could pose a greater potential for harm to the public.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 124 So. 3d 215 - Greenwade v. State