Case Title: Green v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 486, 2012

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2012-12-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
SAMUEL GREEN,  
 
Respondent Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE,  
 
           Petitioner Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§  No. 486, 2012 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below─Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§  in and for New Castle County 
§  C.A. No. 94M-06-040 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
Submitted: November 13, 2012 
Decided: December 13, 2012 
 
Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND and RIDGELY, Justice 
 
 
 
 
 
 
O R D E R  
 
 
This 13th day of December 2012, upon consideration of the appellant’s 
opening brief and the appellee’s motion to affirm pursuant to Supreme Court 
Rule 25(a), it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The respondent-appellant, Samuel Green, filed an appeal from 
the Superior Court’s August 1, 2012 order denying his motion to set aside a 
June 1994 forfeiture of property.  The petitioner-appellee, the State of 
Delaware, has moved to affirm the Superior Court’s judgment on the ground 
 
2
that it is manifest on the face of the opening brief that this appeal is without 
merit.1  We agree and affirm. 
 
(2) 
The record before us reflects that, on February 1, 1994, Green 
was arrested by City of Wilmington Police on drug and weapon charges.2  
On June 15, 1994, the State of Delaware moved to forfeit a car, cash, two 
firearms and jewelry, which police had seized at the time of Green’s 
February 1994 arrest.  On June 17, 1994, the Superior Court granted the 
State’s motion and the property was forfeited. 
 
(3) 
On April 8, 1996, Green filed a motion in the Superior Court 
seeking to set aside the June 1994 forfeiture order.  The Superior Court 
denied Green’s motion on December 19, 1996.  This Court affirmed the 
Superior Court’s decision.3  Following the Superior Court’s denial of 
Green’s most recent motion to set aside the June 1994 forfeiture, Green filed 
the instant appeal in this Court. 
                                                 
1 Supr. Ct. R. 25(a). 
2 The charges were dismissed on February 9, 1994, because a federal grand jury had 
indicted Green on drug and weapon charges the previous day.  On May 11, 1994, Green 
was found guilty by a federal jury on the drug and weapon charges.  His sentence as a 
career offender to a total of 420 consecutive months of incarceration was affirmed by the 
Third Circuit.  United States v. Green, 47 F.3d 1162 (3d Cir. 1995), cert. denied, Green v. 
United States, 514 U.S. 1122 (1995). 
3 Green v. State, 1997 WL 398926 (Del. June 24, 1997).  Green also unsuccessfully 
sought relief in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware in 1995 and 
2009. 
 
3
 
(4) 
In this appeal, Green claims that the procedures utilized by the 
State in the forfeiture proceeding, including the lack of proper notification, 
were invalid, requiring the return of his property. 
 
(5) 
This Court has held that the Superior Court is within its 
discretion in refusing to consider a motion for the return of property filed 
more than 45 days after notification to all known interested parties of the 
State’s seizure of the property.4  As such, we conclude that the Superior 
Court acted well within its discretion when it determined that Green’s 
motion, filed approximately 18 years after the forfeiture of the property, was 
untimely.  Moreover, because Green raised the same arguments in his most 
recent motion that had previously been raised unsuccessfully in the Superior 
Court, his claims were barred under the doctrine of res judicata.5      
 
(6) 
It is manifest on the face of the opening brief that this appeal is 
without merit because the issues presented on appeal are controlled by 
settled Delaware law and, to the extent that judicial discretion is implicated, 
there was no abuse of discretion. 
                                                 
4 Del. Code Ann. tit. 16, §4784(j); McNair v. State, 2000 WL 1780762 (Del. Nov. 29, 
2000); In re $1,36.00 in U.S. Currency, 1999 WL 86070 (Del. Jan. 20, 1999); Frazier v. 
State, 1997 WL 587345 (Del. Sept. 10, 1997). 
5 Robinson v. State, 2012 WL 1142462 (Del. Apr. 3, 2012) (citing Bailey v. City of 
Wilmington, 766 A.2d 477, 481 (Del. 2001)). 
 
4
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the State’s motion to 
affirm is GRANTED.  The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED.6  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Myron T. Steele 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chief Justice 
 
                                                 
6 Green’s motion, entitled “Appeal of Motion to Reconsider Request to Set Aside 
Forfeiture” and filed on November 20, 2012, is hereby denied as moot.