Alford v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In Dingle , the Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred in asking two-part voir dire questions. 361 Md. at 8-9 [ 759 A.2d 819 ], The two-part voir dire consisted of the trial court asking the jury panel whether any juror had experiences, such as having been a victim of a crime, 14 or associations, such as being associated with police officers, 15 and whether these experiences or associations would affect the juror’s ability to be a fair and impartial juror. Id. at 3-4 [ 759 A.2d 819 ]. The Court of Appeals held that the voir dire procedure usurped the court’s responsibility to ascertain the existence of cause for disqualification because the procedure allowed “the individual venire person to decide his or her ability to be fair and impartial.” Id. at 9-10, 21 [ 759 A.2d 819 ]. The Court of Appeals stated that: Because [the trial judge] did not require an answer to be given to the question as to the existence of the status or experience unless accompanied by a statement of partiality, the trial judge was precluded from discharging his responsibility, i.e. exercising discretion, and, at the same time, the petitioner was denied the opportunity to discover and challenge venire persons who might be biased. The effect on the petitioner is particularly egregious: as we have seen, the party who would challenge a venire person for cause has the burden of presenting facts demonstrating the disqualification. As already pointed out, the strike for cause process encompasses the s”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 205 Md. App. 334 - TETSO v. State

2. “Under the Rule, when a defendant requests permission to discharge an attorney whose appearance has been entered in his or her case, the court must provide the defendant an opportunity to explain why the defendant wishes to discharge that attorney. Next, the trial court must make a determination about whether the defendant’s desire to discharge counsel is meritorious. Finally, ...: Where the trial [court] finds a defendant’s reasons to be meritorious, [it] must grant the request and, if necessary, give the defendant an opportunity to retain new counsel. When a defendant makes an unmeritorious request to discharge counsel, the trial judge may proceed in one of three ways: (1) deny the request and, if the defendant rejects the right to represent himself and instead elects to keep the attorney he has, continue the proceedings; (2) permit the discharge in accordance with the Rule, but require counsel to remain available on a standby basis; (3) grant the request in accordance with the Rule and relieve counsel of any further obligation.”

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

3. “If a defendant requests permission to discharge an attorney whose appearance has been entered, the court shall permit the defendant to explain the reasons for the request. If the court finds that there is a meritorious reason for the defendant’s request, the court shall permit the discharge of counsel; continue the action if necessary; and advise the defendant that if new counsel does not enter an appearance by the next scheduled trial date, the action will proceed to trial with the defendant unrepresented by counsel. If the court finds no meritorious reason for the defendant’s request, the court may not permit the discharge of counsel without first informing the defendant that the trial will proceed as scheduled with the defendant unrepresented by counsel if the defendant discharges counsel and does not have new counsel. If the court permits the defendant to discharge counsel, it shall comply with subsection (a)(l)-(4) of this Rule if the docket or file does not reflect prior compliance.”

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