106 Md. App. 145 - Schultz v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 59 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 61 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In the case sub judice, the “fact” at issue is whether the HGN test is generally accepted in the scientific community as a reliable indicator of an increased blood alcohol content. There are a number of sources that may be consulted to determine that issue, including scientific journals and other such literature. Because the test is so frequently, even predominantly, used in a forensic setting, however, there is another, equally reliable, source— the holdings of other courts that have examined the question. It is not a precondition to taking judicial notice at the appellate level to “reinvent the wheel” in every case. If a sufficient number of courts have examined the relevant evidence presented on the issue in other cases and have concluded from that evidence that the test is, or is not, generally accepted in the scientific community, there is no reason why we have to insist that the same evidence be presented again in the case before us. We can draw our own conclusions from the collection of holdings of our sister (or brother) courts, including those that have found a sufficient basis for taking judicial notice. * * * To do otherwise at this stage in the development of the science would leave to individual courts within the twenty-three jurisdictions of this State (and the various courts and judges within each jurisdiction) to determine, on a case-by-case basis, the scientific reliability of the test. In each of the various jurisdictions, the determination of the reliabilit”

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

2. “We note with some caution the dissent in Emerson, supra, which initially noted that, by taking judicial notice of the reliability of HGN testing and technique, the appellate court had relieved the State of its burden of establishing the reliability of the test at trial. We acknowledge that we, in taking judicial notice of the reliability of the test ... are likewise relieving the State of that burden. We shall, nevertheless, take judicial notice that HGN testing, a scientific test, is sufficiently reliable and generally accepted in the relevant scientific community.... To do otherwise at this stage in the development of the science would leave to individual courts within the twenty-three jurisdictions of this State (and the various courts and judges within each jurisdiction) to determine, on a case-by-case basis, the scientific reliability of the test. In each of the various jurisdictions, the determination of the reliability and acceptability of such evidence would depend upon the competence, energy, and schedules (and even budgets) of the various prosecutors throughout the State in obtaining, and producing the attendance of experts at the thousands of trials involving alcohol related offenses in which HGN testing is sought to be admitted. Disparate results and decisions might result in many instances, not from the actual scientific reliability of the tests themselves, but from the differing abilities and resources of prosecutors and the availability of witnesses from the sc”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 185 F. Supp. 2d 530 - United States v. Horn

3. “No chemical test was administered to appellant in the case sub judice. Evidence was proffered by appellant as to injuries that may have affected his ability to perform certain of the other field tests, and there was also evidence that the odor of alcohol smelled by [the officer] may have come from a source other than appellant. Accordingly, we are unable to say that the error was harmless.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 124 Md. App. 543 - Wilson v. State