29 Md. App. 1 - Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 46 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 48 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ... No longer is a character witness prevented from speaking of specific acts or precluded from demonstrating a basis of knowledge leading to his own independent opinion.” 28 Md. App. at 568 .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 76 Md. App. 127 - Hemingway v. State · 31 Md. App. 85 - Beckette v. State

2. ““A character witness at common law could be cross-examined about specific or particular acts or courses of conduct of a defendant, but on direct examination he could not testify to such specific or particular acts or courses of conduct. His testimony was, in essence, limited to what he heard from others about the defendant’s reputation. The common law has been modified by statute in Maryland. Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article § 9-115 provides: ‘Where character evidence is otherwise relevant to the proceeding, no person offered as a character witness who has an adequate basis for forming an opinion as to another person’s character shall hereafter be excluded from giving evidence based on personal opinion to prove character, either in person or by deposition, in any suit, action or proceeding, civil or criminal, in any court or before any judge, or jury of the State.’ 5 “As a result of the enactment of what is now Courts Art. § 9-115, Maryland possesses the common law rule with a vastly broadened field of vision. No longer is a character witness prevented from speaking of specific acts or precluded from demonstrating a basis of knowledge leading to his own independent opinion. To an extent, this State has eliminated some of the underlying hearsay present in the common law rule relative to character witness testimony. 6 ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 32 Md. App. 403 - Nishchuk v. State

3. “By the same token, any error in instructing as to the allocation of the burden of persuasion on the subject of mitigation (such mitigation, for purposes of holding the homicidal mens rea down to the manslaughter level, being fairly an issue in the case) will have been cured by a verdict of murder in the first degree. The evil aimed at by Mullaney v. Wilbur, where the issue is manslaughter versus murder, is that a presumption of malice unfairly relieves the State of the burden of proving non-mitigation (mitigation being fairly an issue in the case). Where the ultimate verdict is that of murder in the second degree, the presumption may, therefore, have been pivotal. Where, on the other hand, the verdict is murder in the first degree, the State would have proved every element, including the negating of hot blood, beyond a reasonable doubt and due process will not have been offended. 28 Md. App. at 658 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 33 Md. App. 185 - Morris v. State