Dillard v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

31 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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The contact was particularly troubling for several reasons. First, Detective Smith was a key witness for the State. Contact between a juror and a key witness is more likely to be prejudicial than contact between a juror and an uninterested party. Second, the jurors specifically sought out the witness to make a comment about his testimony, as opposed to “mere casual contact,” like saying “hello” or exchanging passing pleasantries. Further, the contact was not, on its face, an “instinctive human reaction” or a mere passing observation arising out of some detail of the testimony, as asserted by the Court of Special Appeals, but rather was a comment about the content of the witness’s testimony that may be related to the question of guilt or innocence. Third, the contact is evidence that the jurors may have formed an opinion as to Dillard’s guilt before Dillard presented his case. “If a juror has formed a fixed opinion on a defendant’s guilt prior to deliberations, the juror may stand by the opinion even if contradicted by subsequent evidence. A juror may also form premature conclusions without the benefit of final arguments, instructions of law, and jury deliberations.” Finally, the fact that two jurors independently made the same comment about Detective Smith’s testimony suggested that the jurors may have discussed the case or engaged in premature deliberation about the question of Dillard’s guilt or innocence, or Detective Smith’s credibility, prior to the completion of testimo”

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

2. “Without a voir dire examination of the jurors to determine the intent or sub-text of their comments and whether they had discussed the issue of Dillard’s guilt or innocence, the trial judge did not have sufficient information to determine whether [the contact was sufficiently egregious that] the presumption of prejudice attached to the contact or to rule on Dillard’s motion for a mistrial. Thus, the trial judge’s failure to clarify the factual scenario raised by the contact between the jurors and Detective Smith constituted an abuse of discretion.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 199 Md. App. 483 - Dionas v. State

3. “The trial judge in the case sub judice found that there was no reasonable likelihood that any of the jurors had seen the potentially prejudicial information contained upon the electronic bulletin board, and that finding was supported by the evidence; consequently, he did not abuse his discretion in refusing to voir dire the jurors to investigate Bruce’s speculation that the jury had been tainted by such exposure.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 204 Md. App. 593 - COLKLEY & FIELDS v. State