975 So. 2d 1163 - Cox v. State’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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Generally, a law enforcement officer may validly seek consent to search a vehicle during a legal traffic stop. See Schneckloth v. Bustamante, 412 U.S. 218, 222 , 93 S.Ct. 2041 , 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). The officer need not have an objective justification or reasonable suspicion to ask for consent to search. See Watts v. State, 788 So.2d 1040, 1042-43 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001). To validate a war-rantless search, the State must show that the search falls within a constitutional exception, one of which is voluntary consent. See Hicks v. State, 852 So.2d 954, 960 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). Consent must be given unequivocally and not be mere deference to the apparent authority of the police. See Thompson v. State, 555 So.2d 970, 971 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). A search conducted pursuant to freely and voluntarily given consent is lawful. See Jorgenson v. State, 714 So.2d 423 , 426 (Fla.1998). Whether consent is voluntary is a question of fact to be determined under the totality of the circumstances and established by a preponderance of the evidence. See id.; Oliver v. State, 642 So.2d 840, 841 (Fla. 4th DCA 1994).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Toussaint