State v. Ward’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 38 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]e held that a neutral magistrate could reasonably conclude that Ward was a person likely to possess a handgun and would not likely dispose of it. From the further facts that Ward did not have such a weapon on him when he was first arrested within 48 hours after the murder and that one was not seen in his car, we held that a neutral magistrate could also reasonably infer that the weapon could be found either in his home or secreted in his car. Relying on Mills and a number of out-of-State cases, we determined that the case was one of those “doubtful or marginal cases” ... that “should be largely determined by the preference to be accorded to warrants.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Johnson · 141 Md. App. 54 - Preston v. State

2. “It is self evident that the murder weapon was not found at the crime scene. The fact that the first of the witnesses who telephoned the police would not identify themselves is significant. These witnesses knew Ward by sight and name. There was no information from any caller that the murderer was a person other than Ward ... [who] had an arrest record that included two or more handgun “[violations.” All of this information permitted the magistrate to infer that these witnesses were unwilling to identify themselves because they feared Ward. The affidavit described Ward, not in terms but in reasonable inference, as a person to whom a handgun and ammunition are items of utility and value. Consequently, the magistrate could infer a reasonable probability that, between the murder and the application for the warrant, Ward had not disposed of the murder weapon ... The magistrate could further infer that the weapon was not on Ward’s person when he was brought in for questioning less than forty-eight hours after the murder ... [T]he police were still looking for the murder weapon when they applied for the warrant. Apparently Ward was accosted when he was in or about his automobile, inasmuch as the police towed that automobile to headquarters while Ward was transported to headquarters by other means. Thus, the weapon was not in plain view in Ward’s automobile when the police towed it. [T]he magistrate had probable cause to believe that the murder weapon and associated evidence of the cr”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Johnson · 123 Md. App. 599 - Braxton v. State

3. ““Where the object of the search is a weapon used in the crime ... the inference that the items are at the offender’s residence is especially compelling, at least in those cases where the perpetrator is unaware that the victim has been able to identify him to the police.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Johnson · 128 F. Supp. 2d 1 - United States v. Hopkins