Gutierrez v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

30 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 30 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]e must determine whether the trial court erred in admitting testimony of a gang expert at all, and if not, whether Norris’s testimony was unfairly prejudicial. In doing so, we remain ever-cognizant of the highly incendiary nature of gang evidence and the possibility that a jury may determine guilt by association rather than by its belief that the defendant committed the criminal acts. We agree with the Supreme Court of New Mexico that courts must be vigilant in guarding against the improper use of gang affiliation evidence “as a backdoor means of introducing character evidence by associating the defendant with the gang and describing the gang’s bad acts.” Thus, we hold that the threshold requirement for the admissibility of gang expert testimony is fact evidence showing that the crime was gang-related. Proof of such a link transforms a defendant’s gang membership, current or prospective, from an impermissible prior bad act to a concrete component of the crime for which the defendant is on trial. To be clear, this requirement may be satisfied by fact evidence that, at first glance, may not indicate gang motivations, but when coupled with expert testimony, provides the gang-crime connection____In adopting this threshold requirement, we are simply saying that a defendant’s membership in a gang, in and of itself, is not enough.”

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

2. “[Sergeant] Norris provided jurors with an overview of the MS-13 culture. He began by explaining that “MS-13” stands for “Mara Salvatrucha,” with “mara” meaning gang or group, “salva” referring to El Salvador, and “trucha” translating as “watch out” or “look out.” The 13 in the gang’s name, he testified, is “indicative of their alliance with the Mexican Mafia[.]” [Sergeant] Norris also described how prospective members are inducted, or “jumped,” into MS-13, which involves a 13 second beating by four or five gang members. He identified Langley Park, the location of the apartment where Gutierrez, [and other occupants of the car] were congregated before driving to Riverdale, as an MS-13 stronghold. Riverdale (the scene of the crime), on the other hand, was a predominantly Mexican neighborhood and “[t]he gangs within that community are more of the Mexican-based gangs as opposed to MS-13, which is predominantly Central American based.” Thus, Riverdale is “an area where rival gang members are expected to be.” [Sergeant] Norris explained that MS-13 members respond to criticism of their gang or untruthful displays of MS-13 membership (an act known as “false flagging”) with violence “up to death.” In fact, MS-13 is “the gang that [law enforcement] had seen the most violence with recently for the past four, four and a half years in this region----” Finally, [Sergeant] Norris, who often conducted internet investigations by visiting gang members’ MySpace webpages, articulated a belief tha”

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

3. “[T]he admissibility of expert testimony is a matter largely within the discretion of the trial court, and its action in admitting or excluding such testimony will seldom constitute a ground for reversal. It is well settled, however, that the trial court’s determination is reviewable on appeal, and may be reversed if founded on an error of law or some serious mistake, or if the trial court has clearly abused its discretion. Id. at 301 , 372 A.2d at 1074-75 (quotation marks and citations omitted). A reviewing court may find an abuse of discretion where the prejudice of the admitted testimony outweighs its probative value. See State v. Faulkner, 314 Md. 630, 641 , 552 A.2d 896, 901 (1989). Prejudice that would “outweigh probative value involves more than mere damage to the opponent’s case.” State v. Allewalt, 308 Md. 89, 102 , 517 A.2d 741, 747 (1986).”

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