60 Md. App. 69 - Waltermeyer v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[W]e have to start with the basic proposition that the admissibility of expert or opinion testimony is largely within the discretion of the trial court, subject to review on appeal, and that ‘the test of admissibility of an expert’s opinion should be whether his testimony will be of real appreciable help to the trier of fact in deciding the issue presented.’ ... It follows from this that not every opinion of an expert is admissible, whatever its form or the source of the information upon which it is based.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 75 Md. App. 166 - Cirincione v. State · 76 Md. App. 250 - Craig v. State

2. ““In light of these instructions, we think that appellant received essentially what the law requires. If the jury believed and credited Dr. Donner’s opinion that appellant was so inebriated that he possessed no reason or understanding and that he could not appreciate what he was doing or conform his conduct to the requirements of the law, under the court’s instructions, it would have had to acquit. That it did not do so, upon this record, cannot reasonably be attributed to the lack of an opinion on the ‘ultimate issue,’ but rather to the fact that it simply did not believe even the lesser opinion rendered by Dr. Donner. If there was error, in the form of an abuse of discretion, in not allowing the more direct opinion sought by counsel, it was clearly harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 75 Md. App. 166 - Cirincione v. State

3. “In deciding whether appellant was so inebriated as to possess no reason or understanding, and thus was incapable of forming the requisite specific intent, the jury could consider only what the evidence showed. It was properly so instructed. It could not, as a matter of law, be permitted to speculate that appellant had ingested anything else, or anything more. Of what value, then, was an opinion on the ultimate issue based on the assumption that appellant had indeed ingested other substances, or a greater quantity of substance? What use could the jury properly make of such an opinion? The answer to both questions is “none.” Such an opinion would have been completely irrelevant; it could have no function other than to confuse or mislead the jury. That is why it was inadmissible.”

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