76 Md. App. 141 - Warfield 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. “As to Count I, which is the storehouse breaking, first of all, there hasn’t been any proof that Mrs. Weller’s ownership — now, I admit, I’ve been looking at the pattern jury instructions and it’s mentioned ownership. I don’t think we know, at this stage, who owned those coins that are allegedly gone. And secondly, it’s pure conjecture, at this point, if it goes to the jury, that this Defendant took those coins. Even if we took the evidence as presented most favorable to the State, as we must at this stage, and that would refer to all three Counts, actually. By her own testimony, she — all she knows is, she thinks she had the coins the night before and they were gone the next day and this Defendant was seen coming out of the garage. The Officer’s testimony says she — quotes her as saying she had them earlier in the week. And a jury would have to speculate (inaudible) conjecture to find that this Defendant took them, since there’s nothing else to tie him to this. No physical evidence at all. No sign that he had any coins in his pocket or hid them or anything else.”

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

2. “In the trial of all criminal cases, the jury shall be the judges of law, as well as of fact, except that at the conclusion of the evidence for the State a motion for judgment of acquittal on one or more counts, or on one or more degrees of an offense, may be made by an accused on the ground that the evidence is insufficient in law to justify his conviction as to any such count or degree. If the motion is denied, he may offer evidence on his own behalf without having reserved the right to do so, but by so doing, he withdraws his motion. The motion may be made at the close of all the evidence whether or not such motion was made at the conclusion of the evidence for the State. If the motion is denied the defendant may have a review of such ruling on appeal.”

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

3. “The intent of Rule 4-324, in requiring defendants to particularize their arguments to preserve the sufficiency issue for appellate review, is to allow the trial court the opportunity to consider fully the basis for the motion. A substantial amount of evidence may be presented between a motion for judgment of acquittal made at the end of the State’s case and the close of the case. It would be too great a burden to require a trial judge to make an intelligent and informed ruling on a subsequent motion made at the close of all the evidence without the benefit of reargument, since, at that point, the trial judge would be required to consider the motion on the basis of all the evidence. (Emphasis in original)”

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