175 Md. App. 422 - Rendelman v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 4 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. “William K. Elmhirst, you filthy [expletives], I’ve waited 20 years to write this letter. It was December 24, 1984, almost exactly 20 years ago, when you froze my bank accounts, ruined my Christmas with my family, and started the process that would put me in prison for 17 years. You’re a [expletives] piece of dog [expletive]. Thanks to you, my kids grew up without a father and my wife (or should I say my ex-wife) is a widow. [Expletives] I hate your guts. You will NEVER be able to give me back my lost years, return me to father my 6 and 2 year old kids, or give me back my wife. My life is ruined and it’s all your doing. You made false claims against me, stole my money, and you don’t give a [expletive]. The only thing you could do is give me back my money. That won’t make everything right again, but it’s the best you can do. It’s the only thing you can do. I was released on December 21, 2001, and I’ve been on three years parole. During that time I was not allowed to contact you, I was not allowed to travel, and I couldn’t change my residence. But now I am off of parole. Now there is nothing stopping me from coming back there. NOTHING!! You stole about $22,000 from me. It was actually a little more, and yes, I still have the exact amount in my records which have been sent to a third party who has kept them for me all these years. I can look it up if it becomes necessary, but for the purpose of settlement, let’s just say it was $22,000. Twenty years at 9% compounded interest make”

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

2. “(a) Scope of section.—This section does not apply to legitimate efforts by employees or their representatives to obtain certain wages, hours, or working conditions. (b) Obtaining, attempting or conspiring to obtain property prohibited.—A person may not obtain or attempt to obtain money, property, or anything of value from another person with the person’s consent, if the consent is induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force or violence, or by wrongful threat of economic injury. (c) Penalty—Value of property $500 or more.—If the value of the property is $500 or more, a person who violates this section is guilty of the felony of extortion and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 10 years or a fine not exceeding $5,000 or both. (d) Penalty—Value of property less than $500. If the value of the property is less than $500, a person who violates this section is guilty of the misdemeanor of extortion and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding 18 months or a fine not exceeding $500 or both. (e) Limitation.—A prosecution for a felony under this section shall be instituted within 5 years after the crime was committed.”

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

3. “[A] threat to bring civil litigation does not have intrinsic extortionate value. The threat is to place the extortionist’s claim against the victim in the hands of a neutral third party, the civil justice system, to decide. The threat is not such as to instill fear because, if it is carried out, the extortionist no longer has the power to affect its result. Without the capacity to instill fear, the threat, in and of itself, does not have the force to leverage payment of value from the victim merely to avoid a consequence.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Rendelman