State v. Davis’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Under the Rule, when a defendant requests permission to discharge an attorney whose appearance has been entered in his or her case, the court must provide the defendant an opportunity to explain why the defendant wishes to discharge that attorney. Next, the trial court must make a determination about whether the defendant’s desire to discharge counsel is meritorious. Finally, ...: Where the trial [court] finds a defendant’s reasons to be meritorious, [it] must grant the request and, if necessary, give the defendant an opportunity to retain new counsel. When a defendant makes an unmeritorious request to discharge counsel, the trial judge may proceed in one of three ways: (1) deny the request and, if the defendant rejects the right to represent himself and instead elects to keep the attorney he has, continue the proceedings; (2) permit the discharge in accordance with the Rule, but require counsel to remain available on a standby basis; (3) grant the request in accordance with the Rule and relieve counsel of any further obligation.”

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

2. “If a defendant requests permission to discharge an attorney whose appearance has been entered, the court shall permit the defendant to explain the reasons for the request. If the court finds that there is a meritorious reason for the defendant’s request, the court shall permit the discharge of counsel; continue the action if necessary; and advise the defendant that if new counsel does not enter an appearance by the next scheduled trial date, the action will proceed to trial with the defendant unrepresented by counsel. If the court finds no meritorious reason for the defendant’s request, the court may not permit the discharge of counsel without first informing the defendant that the trial will proceed as scheduled with the defendant unrepresented by counsel if the defendant discharges counsel and does not have new counsel. If the court permits the defendant to discharge counsel, it shall comply with subsections (a)(1) — (4) of this Rule if the docket or file does not reflect prior compliance.”

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

3. “A petition for new counsel need not be made in writing or even formally worded. See State v. Campbell, 385 Md. 616, 632 , 870 A.2d 217, 226 (2005) (“[Defendant’s] request did not need to be a talismanic phrase or artfully worded to qualify as a request to discharge, so long as a court could reasonably conclude that [he] sought to discharge his counsel.”); Snead [v. State], 286 Md. [122], 127, 406 A.2d [98], 101 [ (1979) ] (“[A]ny statement by the defendant from which the court could reasonably conclude that the defendant desired self-representation would be sufficient.”). Rather, the statement must simply express to the court that the defendant is dissatisfied with his or her current attorney. See Campbell, 385 Md. at 632 , 870 A.2d at 226 (“[Defendant’s] statement regarding his dissatisfaction with his attorney, if timely, should have triggered an inquiry by the court as to whether [he] wanted to discharge his counsel.”).”

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