Justia Delaware Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Defendant-appellant Joel Stevenson appealed convictions for first- and second-degree unlawful sexual contact and two counts of sex offender unlawful sexual conduct with a child. On appeal of those convictions, Stevenson argued that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting certain out-of-court statements of three child witnesses rebutting defendant's allegation that the State improperly influenced the witnesses' testimony. After review of the record, the Delaware found no merit to defendant's arguments and affirmed his convictions. View "Stevenson v. Delaware" on Justia Law

On June 24, 2013, a Grand Jury indicted appellant Kahlil Lewis on charges of second degree murder, two counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, first degree reckless endangering, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. In December, the State filed an information charging Lewis with an additional crime, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited - negligently causing death. A few days later, the Grand Jury re-indicted Lewis. The re-indictment repeated the charges in the original indictment, and added the new charge under 11 Del. C. 1448(e)(2). In this appeal, the issue presented for the Supreme Court's review concerned whether the Grand Jury properly indicted appellee for a crime under a criminal statute mistakenly repealed by the General Assembly. Appellant argued the Grand Jury improperly indicted him for an additional crime as part of a renewed indictment incorporating earlier charges because the General Assembly repealed the statute covering the added crime before he was re-indicted. The General Assembly discovered the mistake but did not re-enact the repealed subsection until after the re-indictment. The Delaware Supreme Court held, after review and consistent with decisions interpreting a similar federal saving statute, that Delaware’s criminal saving statute permitted the State to prosecute crimes under a repealed criminal statute when the crimes were committed before the statute’s repeal. Because Lewis committed the crime before the statute was repealed, he was still subject to prosecution under the later repealed statute. Lewis also raised other arguments on appeal, but the Court found no merit to those arguments and affirmed Lewis' convictions. View "Lewis v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Delaware charged defendant Benjamin Rauf with one count of First Degree Intentional Murder, one count of First Degree Felony Murder, Possession of a Firearm During those Felonies, and First Degree Robbery. The State expressed its intention to seek the death penalty if Rauf was convicted on either of the First Degree Murder counts. In January 2016, the United States Supreme Court held in "Hurst v. Florida" that Florida‘s capital sentencing scheme was unconstitutional. In light of the "Hurst" decision, the trial court in this matter certified five questions of law to the Supreme Court, asking the Supreme Court to address the constitutionality of Delaware's state's death penalty statute; the Superior Court believed that Hurst "reflected an evolution of the law that raised serious questions about the continuing validity of Delaware‘s death penalty statute." After review, the Court concluded that Delaware's death penalty statute conflicted with the Sixth Amendment, and prior cases on the constitutionality of Delaware's capital sentencing scheme were overruled to the extent they were inconsistent with this opinion. View "Rauf v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Tracey West was pulled over by police officer Thomas Gaul when her car was drifting back and forth in the lane. The officer saw the car swerve sharply to avoid hitting a concrete island. When he approached the car, Gaul smelled alcohol. West "staggered out of the car" and failed field sobriety tests. She was charged with an illegal lane change and driving under the influence. Before trial, West moved to suppress the evidence that she was intoxicated. She claimed that Officer Gaul lacked the reasonable suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment to make an investigative stop of her car. Thus, any evidence of her intoxication gathered after the stop should have been suppressed. After hearing testimony from the officer and reviewing the video from the police car camera, the trial judge dismissed the lane change charge, but denied the motion to suppress. The State then introduced at trial the evidence of her intoxicated state, and a jury convicted West of drunk driving. West appealed her conviction to the Superior Court, which affirmed the trial court’s ruling on the community caretaker doctrine, and also found that Officer Gaul had reasonable suspicion to stop West for driving while intoxicated. West then appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, arguing the community caretaker doctrine did not apply, and Officer Gaul lacked reasonable suspicion as required by the Fourth Amendment for an investigatory stop of her car. Finding no reversible error, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "West v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellee Isaiah McCoy was a pretrial detainee awaiting trial on capital murder and related charges. In May 2010, McCoy was arrested and charged with the murder of James Munford in Dover. He was convicted and sentenced to death at his first trial in June 2012. In January 2015, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. Using a points-based, objective risk assessment tool, the Department of Correction classified him to be held in the maximum security Secured Housing Unit (“SHU”) at James T. Vaughn Correctional Center (“JTVCC”). McCoy filed a motion in the criminal case requesting that he be transferred from the SHU to the prison’s general population on the ground that detention at the SHU was interfering with his Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel. The Superior Court, over the State’s objection, granted McCoy’s motion, and McCoy was, in fact, transferred to general population. While McCoy had some complaints about the adequacy of the attorney visitation rooms in the SHU and access to the library, the Superior Court based its order in significant part upon its perception of “the emotional and physical impact that prolonged, solitary placement has had on [McCoy’s] Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel . . . .” The Superior Court found there that it had such jurisdiction under 10 Del. C. sec. 542, 11 Del. C. sec. 6504, and several other cases, to order the transfer of a detainee from maximum security to the general population. The State renewed its jurisdictional argument in this case. After review, the Delaware Supreme Court concluded that neither the Sixth Amendment right to assistance of counsel nor the statutes and cases relied upon by the Superior Court granted it the authority to transfer a detainee from one housing unit to another in a criminal case. The order of the Superior Court was, therefore, vacated. View "Delaware v. McCoy" on Justia Law

Milton Taylor was sentenced to death in 2001. He petitioned the Delaware Supreme Court for a writ of mandamus to direct the Superior Court to docket his second motion for post-conviction relief under Superior Court Criminal Rule 61. The State conceded that the writ should be issued. After careful consideration, the Court held that the Superior Court erroneously concluded that it lacked jurisdiction to act in Taylor’s case because of a stay of execution order entered by the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The Delaware Supreme Court issued the writ. View "Matter of Taylor" on Justia Law

In this direct appeal, the issue before the Delaware Supreme Court implicated the constitutional boundaries of a trial court’s discretion to limit the scope of a criminal defendant’s cross-examination of the witnesses against him. Wayne Williams was indicted on two counts of Drug Dealing plus aggravating factors, one count of Tampering with Physical Evidence, one count of Resisting Arrest, and two counts of Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. The principal question presented on appeal was the extent to which Williams should have been permitted at trial to cross-examine witnesses concerning misconduct at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (“OCME”) and elicit testimony that presented an alternative explanation for the weight discrepancy involving the drug evidence in his case. The Court concluded there was no unconstitutional restriction of Williams’ confrontation rights and that the Superior Court imposed reasonable limits when exercising its discretion to limit the scope of cross-examination. In view of the overwhelming evidence unrelated to the misconduct at the OCME, the Court held that, even if the trial court had erred, the error would have been harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Accordingly, but for the Tampering with Physical Evidence conviction which the State conceded had to be reversed, the Supreme Court affirmed Williams’ convictions. View "Williams v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Martin Fountain appealed a superior court judgment denying his motion for resentencing on grounds that the Amended Sentencing Act did not apply retroactively. With the help of amicus curiae, he argued that the Act vested a judge with the discretion to modify a consecutive sentence entered before the Act was effective July 9, 2014, and to reimpose concurrent prison terms. The State argued the judicial discretion provided for in the Act operated prospectively only, because there was no express statement in the amendment that made it retroactive. After review, the Supreme Court agreed with the State that the Act applied prospectively. Therefore, the superior court's judgment was affirmed. View "Fountain v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Jhavon Goode was convicted by jury of first degree assault, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and carrying a concealed deadly weapon. The jury determined that Goode shot Jason Terry in the course of a drug sale in Milford. The court sentenced Goode to a total of eighteen years at Level V incarceration with credit for time previously served. Goode appealed, raising a number of arguments. The Supreme Court found no merit to any of these arguments. With respect to Goode’s primary argument, that Terry’s identification of Goode should have been suppressed as unduly suggestive because Terry identified Goode only after Terry’s cousin, Raye Boone, showed him a photograph of Goode, the Court held that a state actor must play a role in an identification before due process concerns arise. "If no state actor is involved in the identification, as was the case here, then the normal rules of evidence and procedure provide sufficient protection to the rights of the accused to challenge the identification." Accordingly, the Court affirmed the trial court's judgment. View "Goode v. Delaware" on Justia Law

After being out of prison for two days and while on probation, defendant Phillip Rossi was spotted at a department store with a woman who was believed to have stolen almost $200 of merchandise. Rossi was the suspected lookout. The alleged scheme culminated in Rossi supposedly returning the stolen items to a different store for store credit later that same day. Criminal charges followed soon after the incident. And although the State entered a nolle prosequi on all charges against Rossi subject to certain conditions, it nonetheless sought to revoke Rossi's probation, and the Superior Court found that Rossi had violated terms of his probation by shoplifting. On appeal, Rossi argued that the Superior Court could not find that he violated probation by shoplifting because the evidence was insufficient to support the violation. "The State's burden to prove a violation of probation is much lighter than it is to convict a defendant of a crime. All that the State must do is prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the 'conduct of the probationer has not been as good as required by the conditions of probation.'" The only piece of competent evidence the State produced showed that Rossi was at the store on the key date in question. But, the State did not introduce any competent evidence that showed a crime had been committed there. Finding that was insufficient to support revocation of Rossi's probation, the Supreme Court reversed. View "Rossi v. Delaware" on Justia Law