United States v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[Wjhen Officer Trader began the initial patdown of Oscar MiteheU, Mr. MiteheU was in a kneeling position . . . with his hands locked behind his head. After the initial patdown, Officer Trader knew that MiteheU was not carrying a weapon. At that point, the officers were out of the Terry zone of danger. In other words, the objectives of a Terry search for a weapon had been fulfilled. However, the search was continued when Officer Morgan felt of the area outside of the pocket and when Officer Fulton reached into the pocket to retrieve the paper sack. After concluding that Mitchell was unarmed, the continuation of the search by the officers transformed the encounter from a weapons search into an evidentiary probe. As emphasized in Minnesota v. Dickerson, . . . such evidentiary searches are of the type that Terry expressly refused to authorize.” (Emphasis added.) 832 F. Supp. at 1079 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 23 Kan. App. 2d 287 - State v. Wonders

2. “Without question, the officers likely possessed a strong hunch (speculation), prompted by their training and experience, that the pocket contained cocaine. However, for an immediate probable cause determination, this does not suffice .... The crack cocaine which was removed from the defendant was contained in six small plastic bags. The plastic bags were wrapped in a white athletic sock. The sock was in a brown paper bag which the defendant carried in the left pocket of a black leather jacket.... [T]he court is not convinced that under the facts of this case, an “immediately apparent” determination of contraband is within the realm of human capability with a single pass of one’s hand over the outer clothing.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 153 F. Supp. 2d 948 - United States v. Lemons

3. ““Officer Trader felt a bulge in defendant’s left jacket pocket, and he called out to Officer Morgan, T got something.’... Officer Trader testified that he knew right away that what he felt was not a weapon. Officer Trader asked Morgan to feel MitcheE’s left jacket pocket, and Morgan patted down the outer clothing of the pocket. Officer Morgan then asked MiteheU what was in his pocket. Mitchell aEegedly gave a deep sigh but refused to answer.” 832 F. Supp. at 1075 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 23 Kan. App. 2d 287 - State v. Wonders