McCloud v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When a court is required to exercise discretion, it must identify principles of law that govern the situation before it and then attempt to apply them in light of the factual and procedural posture of the case. This involves an exercise in balancing alternative solutions and deciding which one to apply, in order to advance the interests of justice____ Put otherwise, “discretion is properly exer cised if a trial judge makes his ruling based on ‘all the considerations which properly enter into the problem.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 84 Md. App. 10 - Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. v. Balbos

2. “At one time when lack of criminal responsibility (then referred to as “insanity”) was at issue, it was the State’s burden to prove "sanity,” as well as guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The statutory scheme was substantially changed by Ch. 501, Acts of 1984, and held constitutional (with respect to the newly allocated burden of proof) in Hoey v. State, 311 Md. 473 , 536 A.2d 622 (1988).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 98 Md. App. 686 - Marsh v. State

3. “Because of the potential factual severability of these issues (as well as their legal severability), we concluded in Treece that under the present statutory provisions a trial court has discretion, in appropriate circumstances, to order bifurcated proceedings in a criminal case in which the issue of criminal responsibility is raised.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 82 Md. App. 210 - Price v. State