Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 40 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In the present case, as we have determined infra, Smith’s counsel had an inherent conflict of interest between his duties to Smith and his asserted duties to the trial court. As such, Smith’s attorney could not impartially advise him regarding any waiver of the attorney-client privilege because the trial court had an interest in learning counsel’s advice to Smith. Thus, regardless of whether Smith waived his attorney-client privilege either expressly or implicitly, the waiver would be ineffective. Moreover, we can conceive of no circumstances that would require Smith’s counsel to reveal the substance of his advice to the court, as such a disclosure could only inure to his client’s detriment. Therefore, we conclude that a collateral evidentiary hearing concerning Smith’s counsel’s disclosure would be superfluous. Our refusal to address Smith’s claim on direct appeal would constitute a waste of judicial resources. See In re Parris W., 363 Md. at 727, 770 A.2d 202 .”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 191 Md. App. 48 - Washington v. State · 185 Md. App. 580 - Webb v. State

2. “[t]he main justification for the rule is that, generally, the trial record does not provide adequate detail upon which the reviewing court could base an assessment regarding whether counsel rendered ineffective assistance because the character of counsel’s representation is not the focus of the proceedings and there is no discussion of counsel’s strategy supporting the conduct in issue.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Duvall v. State · 207 Md. App. 236 - Crippen v. State

3. “Sanctions may be imposed immediately upon the finding of the contempt, or, in the court’s discretion, may be deferred to a later time in the proceeding. Deferral of a sanction does not affect its summary nature. The sanction remains summary in nature in that no hearing is required; the court simply announces and imposes the sanction.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Usiak v. State · King v. State