Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

A Superior Court jury found Defendant–Appellant Davear Whittle guilty of Murder in the Second Degree, Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, Reckless Endangering in the First Degree, and Possession of a Firearm by a Person Prohibited. On appeal, he challenged his convictions, contending the prosecutor improperly vouched for the credibility of three witnesses in his closing argument, by stating that they were "right" or "correct" at least 20 times. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the prosecutor's amounted to improper vouching and constituted plain error. Therefore, the Court reversed the Superior Court and remanded the case for a new trial. View "Whittle v. Delaware" on Justia Law

At issue in this case (among other things) was the constitutionality of the state's gang participation statute (11 Del. C. 616). Appellants argued the statute was unconstitutionally vague because it did not define the term "actively participates." Furthermore, they argued the statute was overbroad because it impinged on the right of free association. The Supreme Court held both arguments lacked merit. "A person of ordinary intelligence can understand what it means to actively participate in a criminal street gang's criminal conduct, and there is no constitutional right to assemble for the purpose of committing a crime." View "Taylor v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Robert Burns was convicted by a jury on several counts of varying degrees of sexual assault against children. The Supreme court previously affirmed Burns' conviction on direct appeal. Burns sought post-conviction relief, arguing that he received inadequate assistance of counsel in violation of his Sixth Amendment rights when trial counsel: did not affirmatively recommend Burns take an plea deal; elicited testimony from an adverse witness that could have implied Burns invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence; waived certain foundational requirements to out-of-court statements; permitted a characterization of the complaining witnesses as "victims;" and failed to object to the State's summation. Burns claimed that the cumulative effect of his defense counsel's actions therefore resulted in an unfair trial. The Superior Court denied Burns' motion for post-conviction relief. Finding no abuse of discretion, the Supreme Court affirmed. View "Burns v. Delaware" on Justia Law

In a direct appeal, defendant raised one claim of error. In defendant's view, although he was charged with and convicted of felony Promoting Prison Contraband, the record reflected there was a rational basis for the jury to find him guilty of the lesser-included offense of misdemeanor Promoting Prison Contraband. Defendant argued the trial judge's failure to give that lesser-included instruction was reversible error. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that defendant's argument was meritless. View "Mays v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court previously rejected defendant Gary Ploof's claims arising from his trial's guilt phase, but remanded the penalty phase claims for the post-conviction judge to reweigh aggravating circumstances against the mitigating circumstances established at trial and in the post-conviction proceedings. Defendant contended his attorneys were ineffective because they failed to uncover evidence that the defendant's father sexually abused foster children staying with defendant's family and also physically abused defendant himself. Upon careful review, the Supreme Court held that defendant's attorneys should have investigated certain "red flags" indicating that defendant's childhood home was not as benign as initially portrayed. However, the Court concluded that the attorneys' failures did not prejudice defendant. Therefore, the Court affirmed the trial judge's denial of defendant's post-conviction relief petition. View "Ploof v. Delaware" on Justia Law

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant in this case of Failing to Stop at the Command of a Police Officer, Reckless Driving, and several other offenses. At issue in this appeal was the State's obligation to produce relevant material in response to a defendant's discovery appeal. The State failed to produce a recording of the officers' communications with the dispatcher in response to the defendant's discovery request. The recording contained evidence that the officers’ siren had not been activated, contrary to the officers’ testimony. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the dispatch recording fell within the scope of the defendant’s discovery request and Superior Court Criminal Rule 16, and that failure to produce this evidence prejudiced the defendant because the siren’s was material to the State’s case and impeached the credibility of its key witnesses. Accordingly, we the Court reversed the Superior Court's judgment and remanded for a new trial. View "Valentin v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant Ramazn Sahin appealed the denial of his application for post-conviction relief. He claimed he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. Finding no merit to defendant's claims, the Supreme Court affirmed the denial. View "Sahin v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The issue on appeal before the Supreme Court in this case was the denial of a postconviction relief motion. Specifically, the issue was whether defense counsel were ineffective during a defendant's first-degree murder trial. Upon review, the Court held that the attorneys' alleged failure to consult with a forensic pathologist or toxicologist, to present more evidence regarding the victim's dominant hand, to investigate ballistics issues, appeal certain issues, and to object to the dismissal of jurors who indicated that they could not impose the death penalty did not prejudice the defendant during his trial's guilt phase. During the penalty phase, however, the postconviction hearing judge failed to reweigh the aggravating evidence against the total mix of mitigating evidence in determining whether the attorneys' failure to present additional evidence during the penalty phase prejudiced the defendant. Accordingly, the Court affirmed in part, and remanded in part so that the postconviction judge could supplement his opinion for further review. View "Ploof v. Delaware" on Justia Law

On August 26, 1992, Jermaine Wright was convicted of first degree murder and other crimes arising from a 1991 robbery at the Hi-Way Inn bar and liquor store. Following a penalty hearing, Wright was sentenced to death. The issue on appeal before the Supreme Court in this case was whether Wright's murder conviction should have been overturned. The trial court granted Wright's fourth motion for postconviction relief, finding that his confession should have been excluded from evidence, and that the State improperly withheld evidence of a similar crime that the police determined he did not commit. The trial court then granted bail. Upon review, the Supreme Court held that the trial court erred in reviewing the admissibility of the confession sua sponte, and in concluding that there was a so-called Brady violation. The trial court also erred in deciding that Wright could be granted bail. Therefore the trial court's judgment was reversed and the matter remanded for further proceedings. View "Delaware v. Wright" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Stanley Taylor appealed his convictions on: eighteen counts of Unlawful Sexual Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender; one count of Attempted Unlawful Sexual Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender; and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. The indictment was based on allegations that Defendant engaged in unlawful sexual conduct with his two minor step-granddaughters. To avoid prejudice to Defendant, the sex offender element of his crimes was redacted from the indictment and a separate bench trial was held on that element after the jury returned its verdict. The State dismissed five counts at the close of the evidence. The jury was ultimately left to consider the following charges: four counts of Rape in the First Degree; four counts of Rape in the Second Degree; seven counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child; one count of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child; and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Defendant was found guilty of all of the offenses presented to the jury. Thereafter, in a bench trial, the Superior Court found that Defendant was a registered sex offender at the time of the offenses, resulting in guilty verdicts on all of the sex offender charges. Defendant was sentenced to eight life sentences, plus an additional 225 years of incarceration. Defendant has raised four arguments in his direct appeal to the Supreme Court: (1) that the prosecutor made an improper closing argument that jeopardized the fairness and integrity of his trial; (2) that the trial judge abused his discretion and violated Defendant's right to a fair trial when, despite Defendant's request, he refused to strike allegedly irrelevant and highly prejudicial testimonial evidence by a nurse; (3) the trial judge abused his discretion when he allowed the jury to view one of the complainant's out-of-court statements; and (4) the cumulative impact of all of the errors amounts to plain error. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that each of Defendant's first three assignments of error were without merit. Accordingly, there was no cumulative impact amounting to plain error. View "Taylor v. Delaware" on Justia Law