Collins v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 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 11 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “certain substantive elements [must] be incorporated. If relevant to the case and requested by one of the parties, we have held that it is reversible error for a trial court not to question the venire regarding racial, ethnic, cultural or religious bias; whether more or less credence would be given to a police officer simply because of that officer's position; and whether the venire harbors an unwillingness to convict a defendant of a capital crime. Yet, even for these mandatory subjects of inquiry, generally, neither a specific form of question nor procedure is required.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 240 Md. App. 156 - Kazadi v. State

2. “[u]ndergirding the voir dire procedure and, hence, informing the trial court's exercise of discretion regarding the conduct of the voir dire, is a single, primary, and overriding principle or purpose: to ascertain the existence of cause for disqualification. [W]e do not require perfection in its exercise. The trial court reaches the limits of its discretion only when the voir dire method employed by the court fails to probe juror biases effectively.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 240 Md. App. 156 - Kazadi v. State

3. “the sole purpose of voir dire is to ensure a fair and impartial jury by determining the existence of cause for disqualification, and not as in many other states, to include the intelligent exercise of peremptory challenges.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 240 Md. App. 156 - Kazadi v. State