State v. Simms’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

88 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 90 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is frequently stated that the issue of whether a particular item of evidence should be admitted or excluded “is committed to the considerable and sound discretion of the trial court,” and that the “abuse of discretion” standard of review is applicable to “the trial court’s determination of relevancy.” Maryland Rule 5-402, however, makes it clear that the trial court does not have discretion to admit irrelevant evidence.... [T]he “de novo” standard of review is applicable to the trial judge’s conclusion of law that the evidence at issue is or is not “of consequence to the determination of the action.””

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Heath · Burris v. State

2. “any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Heath · Williams v. State

3. “first, whether the evidence is legally relevant, and, if relevant, then whether the evidence is inadmissible because its probative value is outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, or other countervailing concerns as outlined in Maryland Rule 5-403. During the first consideration, we test for legal error, while the second consideration requires review of the trial judge's discretionary weighing and is thus tested for abuse of discretion.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Santiago v. State · State v. Heath