Experimental detection of geometric phase effects is based on interferometry techniques. The observation of a nonadiabatic geometric phase in nuclear magnetic resonance has been reported by D. Suter, K. T. Mueller, and A. Pines (1988, Phys. Rev. Lett., 60, 1218). A rigorous interpretation of their results is presented here. The experiment exploits the concept of fictitious spin-1/2 subsystems embedded in a spin system of higher order. A relevant expression for the geometric phase is derived here using the Euler rotation representation for the SU(2) group. In order to correlate the experimental data to the geometric phase, a decomposition of the density matrix in a basis of pure states is used and the isomorphism between the cyclic evolution of pure states and mixed states is constructed. Rigorous treatment of the dynamic phase, along with technical aspects of the experiment, shows that the observed echo shift is related directly to the geometric phase, in agreement with Suter et al. The observed geometric phase is classified as a frame-related phase.