Yates v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In order to convict the Defendants Warren Jerome Yates and Donald S. Kohler of second degree felony murder, the State must prove that the Defendant or another participating in the crime with the Defendant committed or attempted to commit the crime of distribution of marijuana, which is a felony. That the way in which the distribution of marijuana was committed or attempted under all of the circumstances created a reasonably foreseeable risk of death or a serious physical injury likely to result in death, and that as a result of the way in which the distribution of marijuana was committed or attempted, Shirley Elizabeth Worcester was killed.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kohler v. State · Yates v. State

2. ““plain-error review”—involves four steps, or prongs. First, there must be an error or defect—some sort of “[deviation from a legal rule”—that has not been intentionally relinquished or abandoned, i.e., affirmatively waived, by the appellant. Second, the legal error must be clear or obvious, rather than subject to reasonable dispute. Third, the error must have affected the appellant’s substantial rights, which in the ordinary case means he must demonstrate that it “affected the outcome of the [trial] court proceedings.” Fourth and finally, if the above three prongs are satisfied, the [appellate court] has the discretion to remedy the error—discretion which ought to be exercised only if the error “ ‘seriously affeet[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings.’ ” Meeting all four prongs is difficult, “as it should be.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 208 Md. App. 309 - Olson v. State

3. “It is a discretion that appellate courts should rarely exercise, as considerations of both fairness and judicial efficiency ordinarily require that all challenges that a party desires to make to a trial court’s ruling, action, or conduct be presented in the first instance to the trial court so that (1) a proper record can be made with respect to the challenge, and (2) the other parties and the trial judge are given an opportunity to consider and respond to the challenge.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 222 Md. App. 212 - Wiredu v. State