Coleman v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “When a claim is based upon a violation of a constitutional right it is our obligation to make an independent constitutional appraisal from the entire record. But this Court is not a finder of facts; we do not judge the credibility of the witnesses nor do we initially weigh the evidence to determine the facts underlying the constitutional claim. It is the function of the trial court to ascertain the circumstances on which the constitutional claim is based. So, in making our independent appraisal, we accept the findings of the trial judge as to what are the underlying facts unless he is clearly in error. We then re-weigh the facts as accepted in order to determine the ultimate mixed question of law and fact, namely, was there a violation of a constitutional right as claimed.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 236 Md. App. 510 - Duncan v. State

2. “The Fifth Amendment, as applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, guarantees an accused the right to invoke his privilege against self-incrimination.” (Citation omitted)); Boulden v. State, 414 Md. 284, 294 , 995 A.2d 268, 273 (2010) (”

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

3. “Coleman's post- Miranda silence 'so upset the adversarial balance between defense and prosecution that the trial was unfair and the verdict rendered suspect.'”

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