8 Md. App. 522 - Bieber v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

27 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 29 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Any person who is accused of a crime comes into court with a presumption of innocence and that presumption remains with him throughout the trial____ Unless the prosecution has proven the accused guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based upon the legal evidence presented in this case, the presumption of innocence alone is sufficient to acquit the accused. Now, there are two types of evidence which you the jury may consider in this case. There is direct evidence and circumstantial evidence. Direct evidence is ... [and] circumstantial evidence is.... Circumstantial evidence may be used to prove any element of the crime, including the criminal agency of the accused. Thus, a conviction may rest on circumstantial evidence alone, or on direct evidence alone, or on a combination of circumstantial and direct evidence. No greater degree of certainty is required when the evidence is circumstantial than when it is direct provided you, the jury, are convinced on the basis of all the evidence presented beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the Defendant, and if you arre not so convinced you must find the Defendant not guilty. (Emphasis added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 116 Md. App. 559 - Lucas v. State