Case Title: Brown v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 342, 2007

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2007-11-15T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
JAMES E. BROWN, 
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§  No. 342, 2007 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below─Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§  in and for New Castle County 
§  Cr. ID No. 0507003348 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: September 28, 2007 
 
 
 
 
Decided:    November 15, 2007 
 
Before BERGER, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
O R D E R  
 
 
This 15th day of November 2007, upon consideration of the briefs on 
appeal and the record below, it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, James E. Brown, filed an appeal from 
the Superior Court’s June 25, 2007 order denying his motion for sentence 
reduction pursuant to Superior Court Criminal Rule 35(b).  Because Brown 
has received the relief he requested, his appeal is denied as moot.   
 
(2) 
In September 2005, Brown pleaded guilty to Possession With 
Intent to Distribute Heroin.  He was sentenced to 5 years of Level V 
incarceration, to be suspended for time served for 18 months at Level III 
probation.   
 
2
 
(3) 
In November 2005 and April 2006, the Superior Court found 
that Brown had committed violations of probation (“VOPs”).  He was 
sentenced to 5 years at Level V, to be suspended after 5 months for 18 
months at Level III.  In November 2006, Brown again was found to have 
committed a VOP and was sentenced to 4 years and 7 months at Level V, to 
be suspended for Level III upon entry into the Gateway-Residential 
Drug/Alcohol Treatment Program.  
 
(4) 
Brown then filed a motion to be transferred from Level V to 
Level III on the ground that he had applied for, but had not been accepted 
into, the Gateway treatment program.  The Superior Court denied the motion 
as untimely under Rule 35(b).  The record reflects that, shortly thereafter, the 
Superior Court modified Brown’s sentence, resulting in his release from 
Level V incarceration to another Level III treatment program.       
 
(5) 
The record reflects that Brown’s motion for sentence reduction 
was filed on March 6, 2007, three weeks beyond the 90-day period required 
under Rule 35(b).  As such, the Superior Court neither erred nor abused its 
discretion in denying Brown’s motion as untimely.  The record also reflects 
that the Superior Court modified Brown’s sentence on July 11, 2007 and that 
Brown has been released from Level V incarceration and currently is on 
 
3
Level III probation.  As such, Brown has received the relief he requested in 
his Rule 35(b) motion.    
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that, because Brown has 
received the relief he requested in his Rule 35(b) motion, this appeal is 
DENIED AS MOOT. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Jack B. Jacobs  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
        Justice