State v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

187 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 187 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “(1) we must give great deference to the trier of facts’ opportunity to assess the credibility of witnesses, weigh the evidence, and resolve conflicts in the evidence, (2) circumstantial evidence alone can provide a sufficient basis upon which a trier of fact can rest its determination of guilt, even for first degree murder, and (3) we do not re-weigh the evidence or substitute our own judgment, but only determine whether the verdict was supported by sufficient evidence to convince the trier of fact of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”

   10 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 233 Md. App. 88 - Fone v. State · Weems v. State

2. “When an action has been tried without a jury, the appellate court will review the case on both the law and the evidence. It will not set aside the judgment of the trial court on the evidence unless clearly erroneous, and will give due regard to the opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Walker v. State · 189 Md. App. 90 - Moore v. State

3. “There exists under the law of Maryland the doctrine of transferred intent. Transferred intent means that whatever state of mind the Defendant entertains as to his intended target will carry over to any other victim, even if that victim is an unintended target. If you find that the Defendant’s state of mind towards Jeffery Stewart was willful and deliberate, then his intent can be said to carry over to Sara Juarez, notwithstanding that she may have been an unin tended victim. The doctrine of transferred intent does not apply to the crime of assault with intent to disable. Generally, if there are evidentiary facts sufficiently supporting the inference made by the trial court, the appellate court defers to the fact-finder instead of examining the record for additional facts upon which a conflicting inference could have been made, and then conducting its own weighing of the conflicting inferences to resolve independently any conflicts it perceives to exist. The resolving of the conflicting evidentiary inferences is for the fact-finder.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Pettigrew v. State