Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

The issue before the Supreme Court in this appeal was whether a Superior Court judge abused his discretion when he granted defense counsel an overnight continuance to review an additional set of laboratory reports the State’s chemist produced while testifying on cross examination. The Court agreed with the Superior Court judge’s ruling that the State failed to comply with Superior Court Criminal Rule 16. However, the Court held that the trial judge abused his discretion by granting defense counsel a continuance for less than 24 hours to review the highly technical data in the reports. Accordingly, the Court reversed and remanded the case for further proceedings. reverse. View "Oliver v. Delaware" on Justia Law

A state trooper stopped a member of Hells Angels for speeding. He refused to respond when asked where he was going. The trooper then informed him that he would be pat down. Defendant revealed he possessed two handguns. Defendant appealed his conviction on firearms charges, maintaining the trooper lacked probable cause to stop and arrest him. Upon review, the Supreme Court agreed with the superior court judge who suppressed evidence of the firearms because, under the totality of the circumstances, there was no particularized, reasonable, articulable suspicion that defendant was then armed and dangerous. View "Delaware v. Abel" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Frederick S. DeJohn, II appealed a Superior Court violation of probation ("VOP") sentencing order. On appeal, Defendant claimed that the Superior Court judge sentenced him with a closed mind and that the sentencing order contains a calculation error. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that the sentencing order did contain a calculation error, and that that when this matter was remanded for a recalculation of Defendant's sentence, he should be resentenced entirely by another judge. Therefore, the Court did not reach Defendant's issue of whether the Superior Court judge's comments evidenced a closed mind. View "DeJohn v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Branden Wallace appealed his convictions on counts of trafficking cocaine, possession with intent to deliver a narcotic schedule II controlled substance, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Defendant argued that the superior court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized by police after they conducted a routine probation and parole home compliance check at his home. Defendant contended that the search was unconstitutional and that all the evidence obtained should have been suppressed. The Supreme Court reviewed the superior court record and concluded that Defendant's arguments were without merit. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the superior court's judgment and Defendant's convictions. View "Wallace v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-appellant Rashid Roy directly appealed his convictions of Murder in the First Degree, Possession of a Deadly Weapon by a Person Prohibited, Assault in the Third Degree, and Terroristic Threatening to the Supreme Court. Defendant argued: (1) that police lacked the articulable suspicion necessary to detain him for an investigatory stop and therefore lacked probable cause to arrest him; and (2) that even though he stipulated to the introduction of his drug usage at trial, the State erroneously failed to connect that drug usage to any of the purposes permitted by the Delaware Rules of Evidence. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that both of Defendant's arguments were without merit. View "Roy v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Maurice Williams appealed his Superior Court conviction for Escape After Conviction. The charges stemmed from Defendant's failing to return to the Plummer Center in Wilmington as scheduled after he received a medical pass to leave the premises. Defendant raised two claims on appeal: (1) the trial judge abused her discretion when she refused to allow him to proceed pro se during his trial; and (2) she denied his request for the jury to consider a defense of justification. Because Defendant's request to represent himself was denied without a colloquy and the required legal analysis, the Supreme Court was "compelled" to reverse and remand the case for further proceedings. View "Williams v. Delaware" on Justia Law

A State Trooper stopped a Hells Angels member for speeding. When asked where he was going, the defendant "cordially" declined to answer. The State Trooper informed the defendant he would pat him down, and the defendant revealed he possessed two handguns. The State appealed the trial court's ultimate decision to suppress evidence of the handguns that were used to support two counts of carrying a concealed weapon. The Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court judge's grant of defendant's motion to suppress because under the totality of the circumstances, no particularized, reasonable, articulable suspicion that the defendant was armed and dangerous existed. View "Delaware v. Abel" on Justia Law

A passenger in a car stopped by the police for illegally tinted windows claimed to have no identification and provided the officer with a false identity. The driver was not permitted to operate the car further, and officers were prepared to allow the passenger to drive so long as he had his license. After a database search returned no results, the officer handcuffed the passenger and recovered a gun during a pat down. The passenger was later charged by a grand jury of possessing a deadly weapon by a person prohibited, carrying a concealed deadly weapon, receiving a stolen firearm, and criminal impersonation. The passenger appealed his convictions, maintaining that officers lacked probable cause for detaining and arresting him, and the that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the evidence the officers found that was ultimately used against him. Upon review, the Supreme Court held that the officer possessed probable cause to arrest the passenger for criminal impersonation. Therefore, the court affirmed the trial judge's denial of a motion to suppress the gun. View "Stafford v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant Dallas Drummond, Jr., directly appealed to the Supreme Court after having been convicted by a Superior Court jury on two counts of First Degree Rape and one count of Unlawful Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender. Defendant claimed that the trial court reversibly erred by denying his (and the State's) joint motion to sever the Rape charges from the Unlawful Conduct charge. While his appeal was pending, the Supreme Court decided "Monceaux v. State" which relevantly held that a trial court "must use a bifurcated procedure in all future [Unlawful Conduct Against a Child by a Sex Offender] cases." Because "Monceaux" controlled this case, the Court reversed the convictions and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Drummond v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Solomon Collins appealed his convictions by a jury of Murder First Degree, two counts of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony, and three counts of Reckless Endangering First Degree. Collins was charged with the shooting death of Tommear Tinnin. At trial, the State offered into evidence two out-of-court statements that identified Collins as the shooter of Tinnin. The declarants, Violet Gibson and Shakira Romeo, denied making the statements during their in-court testimony. The statements were admitted into evidence based upon the testimony of Detective Patrick Conner, the officer who interviewed Gibson and Romeo. After eleven hours of deliberation, the jury reported to the trial judge that they were deadlocked. The trial judge gave an "Allen" charge and instructed the jury to deliberate further. Two hours later, the jury returned the guilty verdicts. Collins raised three claims on appeal: (1) there was an insufficient foundation to admit into evidence the out-of-court statement of Gibson; (2) there was an insufficient foundation to admit into evidence the out-of-court statement of Romeo; and (3) that the trial judge erred in administering an Allen charge, which, as administered, was coercive. "Gibson and Romeo were classic turncoat witnesses." The Supreme Court concluded that the testimony at trial presented a sufficient foundation for the admission of their out of-court statements: the record showed that their out-of-court statements were given voluntarily, they were each subject to cross examination at trial, and their in-court testimony touched on both the events perceived and the content of their prior statements. The Court also concluded that there was no abuse of discretion by the trial judge in giving an Allen charge. Accordingly, the Court affirmed. View "Collins v. Delaware" on Justia Law