89 Md. App. 273 - Collins v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

28 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The cardinal rule in the construction of statutes is to effectuate the intent of the Legislature. In order to do so, a court should consider the object or purpose to be attained by the statute, and the evils or mischief sought to be remedied, and so construe the statute as to carry out and effectuate, or aid in, the general purposes and policies thereof, and suppress the mischief and advance the remedy. If a statute is susceptible of more than one construction, it should if possible, be given that construction which will effectuate or carry out its purpose or object, and it should not be given a construction that would do more than effect the legislative object or purpose. This is especially true when a court is construing a penal statute, which, according to well established case law, is to be strictly construed. Strict construction, relative to a penal statute, means a construction favorable to the accused, and against the State. In short, the spirit or intention of the statute should control a court’s construction of that statute.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. 97 Md. App. 192 - State v. Polley

2. “A person who is convicted under subsection (b)(1) or subsection (b)(2) of this section, or of conspiracy to violate subsection (b)(1) or (b)(2) of this section shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than 10 years if the person previously has been convicted: (1) Under subsection (b)(1) or subsection (b)(2) of this section; (2) The prison sentence of a person sentenced under subsection (b)(1) or subsection (b)(2) of this section, or of conspiracy to violate subsection (b)(1) or subsection (b)(2) of this section or any combination of these offenses, as a second offender may not be suspended to less than 10 years, and the person may be paroled during that period only in accordance with Article 31B, § 11 of the Code. (3) This subsection does not prevent, prohibit, or make ineligible a convicted defendant from participating in the rehabilitation program under Title 8, Subtitle 5 of the Health-General Article, because of the length of sentence, if imposed under subsection (b)(1) of this section. /Emphasis added.]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
   e.g. State v. Wheeler

3. “The appellants were convicted not of simple possession, but of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute or dispense. There are various ways to prove such intent. The statutory language itself strongly suggests one route to the permitted inference of intent when it speaks of possession “in sufficient quantity to reasonably indicate under all circumstances an intent to manufacture, distribute, or dispense, a controlled dangerous substance.” Art. 27, § 286(a)(1). The quantity of narcotics possessed, however, is not an end in itself; it is but evidence of intent. It is the intent itself that is critical.... Thus, even a large quantity of drugs might not yield a finding of intent to distribute, if other circumstances indicated large private consumption. Conversely, a much smaller quantity might yield stick finding of intent, if evidence other than the quantity possessed showed that intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 136 Md. App. 458 - Herbert v. State