State v. Priet’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

99 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 99 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"Consistent with the principles espoused in the majority of these state and federal cases, and with the rationale underlying our decision in Davis, Rule 731 c does not impose any ritualistic or fixed procedure to guide the trial judge in determining whether a guilty plea is voluntarily and intelligently entered. The rule does not require that the precise legal elements comprising the offense be communicated to the defendant as a prerequisite to the valid acceptance of his guilty plea. Rather, by its express terms, the rule mandates that a guilty plea not be accepted unless it is determined by the court, after questioning of the defendant on the record, that the accused understands the 'nature’ of the charge. This, of course, is an essential requirement of the rule and must be applied in a practical and realistic manner. It simply contemplates that the court will explain to the accused, in understandable terms, the nature of the offense to afford him a basic understanding of its essential substance, rather than of the specific legal components of the offense to which the plea is tendered. The nature of some crimes is readily understandable from the crime itself. Necessarily, the required determination can only be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the relevant circumstances in their totality as disclosed by the record, including, among .other factors, the complexity of the charge, the personal characteristics of the accused, and the factual basis proffered to su”

   9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 47 Md. App. 551 - Bryant v. State · Graves v. State

2. “"If the defendant tenders a plea of guilty, the court may not accept the plea until it determines, after an examination of the defendant on the record in open court by the court, by the State’s Attorney, by the attorney for the defendant, or by any combination thereof, that the plea is made voluntarily, with understanding of the nature of the charge and the consequences of the plea....””

   8 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 47 Md. App. 551 - Bryant v. State · Metheny v. State

3. “[T]he record demonstrates that each defendant was questioned at length concerning the voluntariness vet non of his plea, was informed of the penalty for the offense, and of the constitutional and other rights that would be waived by the entry of a guilty plea. While in each case the defendant was youthful and possessed of little formal education, each was represented by counsel with whom he acknowledged discussing the case and his guilty plea. As to this, we note the observation made by the Supreme Court in Henderson that unless the contrary clearly appears from the record (as was true in Henderson), “it may be appropriate to presume that in most cases defense counsel routinely explain the nature of the offense in sufficient detail to give the accused notice of what he is being asked to admit.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Daughtry · Tate v. State