Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

A grand jury issued a 54 count indictment charging defendant-appellant Otis Phillips, Jeffrey Phillips, and fourteen other co-defendants with gang related crimes relating to criminal activity of the "Sure Shot" street gang. Otis was charged with three counts of first degree murder, first degree attempted murder, gang participation, conspiracy, reckless endangerment, possession of firearms, assault and criminal mischief. The superior court denied severance motions and instead conducted a joint capital trial of Otis and Jeffrey lasting 21 days. The jury acquitted Otis of one possession charge and conspiracy, but convicted on everything else. Otis would later be sentenced to death for the first degree murder charge, life imprisonment plus an additional 130 years for everything else. Otis appealed. Finding that Otis' death sentence had to be vacated, the Supreme Court remanded this case for resentencing on the murder charge only. The Court affirmed the remaining sentences, finding no reversible error in the superior court's judgment. View "Phillips v. Delaware" on Justia Law

A grand jury issued a 54 count indictment charging defendant-appellant Jeffrey Phillips, Otis Phillips, and fourteen other co-defendants with gang related crimes relating to criminal activity of the "Sure Shot" street gang. Jeffrey was charged with two counts of first degree murder, first degree attempted murder, gang participation, first degree conspiracy, reckless endangerment, possession of firearms, assault and criminal mischief. The superior court denied severance motions and instead conducted a joint capital trial of Otis and Jeffrey lasting 21 days. The jury acquitted Jeffrey of assault and conspiracy charges, but convicted on everything else. Jeffrey would later be sentenced to life imprisonment plus an additional 72 years. Jeffrey appealed. Finding none of Jeffrey's arguments had merit, the Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. View "Phillips v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Andrew Lloyd appeals his convictions for racketeering and other offenses related to his role in a Delaware heroin trafficking ring. He raised four issues on appeal: (1) the Superior Court abused its discretion by giving a jury instruction that did not adequately define “enterprise” according to the Delaware RICO statute; (2) the State presented insufficient evidence to prove that Lloyd was engaged in an “association-in-fact” enterprise under the RICO statute; (3) the State improperly vouched for and bolstered certain witnesses’ testimony by asking several of the witnesses about the contents of their plea agreements; and (4) the cumulative effect of the errors violated his due process rights. After a careful review of the record on appeal, the Delaware Supreme Court found no merit to any of these claims. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the Superior Court’s judgment. View "Lloyd v. Delaware" on Justia Law

Defendant Derrick Powell appealed the superior court's denial of his motion for postconviction relief. During the pendency of that appeal, Powell moved to vacated his death sentence based on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in "Hurst v. Florida," and the Delaware Supreme Court's interpretation of that decision in "Rauf v. Delaware." The only issue addressed in this decision was Powell's motion to vacate this death sentence. The question presented by Powell's motion was whether the holding in "Rauf" applied to a death sentence was already final when "Rauf" was decided. The Delaware Supreme Court concluded that the decision of "Rauf" applied retroactively to Powell's case, and that his death sentence should have been vacated, and Powell sentenced to life imprisonment. View "Powell v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The State appealed the superior court’s order granting Catherine Culp’s second pro se motion for sentence modification, which the court reviewed as a Motion for Review of Sentence. The superior court held that Culp’s rehabilitative efforts demonstrated “beyond cavil extraordinary circumstances” justifying reduction of her sentence pursuant to Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(b). On appeal, the State argued that the superior court abused its discretion in granting the Motion, which the State contended was barred as repetitive and untimely. After review, the Delaware Supreme Court concluded that the superior court’s modification of Culp’s sentence ignored the plain language of Rule 35(b) and established precedent, thereby abusing its discretion. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the superior court’s order. View "Delaware v. Culp" on Justia Law

Defendant Tyrone Redden appealed the Superior Court’s Order denying his Amended Motion for Postconviction Relief. At issue in this appeal were two out-of-court statements introduced at Redden’s trial. In his Motion, Redden argued that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the statements after the State failed to ask each witness whether his or her out-of-court statement was truthful. Redden further argued that his appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise the same issue on direct appeal. The Superior Court denied the Amended Motion, holding that Redden’s claims were procedurally barred. After review, the Supreme Court agreed with the Superior Court that Redden’s claims were procedurally barred and affirmed the denial of Redden’s Motion. View "Redden v. Delaware" on Justia Law

The State appealed the grant of post-conviction relief to defendant-appellee Damone Flowers. The Superior Court recognized that Flowers post-conviction motion was untimely under Criminal Rule 61(i)(1) because he filed it three years after his conviction became final. However, the Superior Court invoked an exception to the procedural bars as a basis for addressing Flowers' motion on the merits. At the time of Flowers' second motion for relief, the bars to relief in Rule 61(1)(1)-(3) did not apply "to a colorable claim that there was a miscarriage of justice because of a constitutional violation that undermined the fundamental legality, reliability, integrity or fairness of the proceedings leading to the judgment of conviction." After its review, the Supreme Court concluded Flowers' second motion for relief was indeed untimely and that the exception was improperly invoked by the Superior Court. Accordingly, the Court reversed the Superior Court. View "Delaware v. Flowers" on Justia Law

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