137 Md. App. 460 - Gray 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. “Given that when it is asserted in a civil case, by a party, the Fifth Amendment privilege may take on evidentiary significance, we disagree with the courts that take the sweeping view that there can never be probative value to a witness's assertion of the privilege in a criminal case and, therefore, trial courts lack discretion to permit a witness to take the stand when it is known that the witness will invoke the privilege. The question is not whether a witness's assertion of the privilege is devoid of evidentiary value in a criminal case but whether, as a matter of policy, a trier of fact in a criminal case should be permitted to give that act evidentiary value and, if so, under what circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Gray v. State

2. “It often is the role of the trial court in ruling on the admissibility of evidence to make factual findings. In ruling on motions to suppress evidence, for example, the trial court takes evidence, makes factual findings, including credibility assessments, and applies the law to the findings of fact. The trial court's role as fact-finder in that context does not invade the province of the jury. Indeed, as mentioned earlier, the Supreme Court has described the inquiry that a trial court makes in deciding whether a statement qualifies as one against penal interest as "fact-intensive." Williamson, 512 U.S. 594, 604 , 114 S.Ct. 2431, 2437 , 129 L.Ed.2d 476, 486 (1994).”

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

3. “(1) whether there is any apparent motive for the out-of-court declarant to misrepresent the matter, (2) the general character of the speaker, (3) whether other people heard the out-of-court statement, (4) whether the statement was made spontaneously, (5) the timing of the declaration and [(6)] the relationship between the speaker and the ... [declarant].”

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