Case Title: Lyons v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 168, 2002

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2002-09-03T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
HARRY LYONS,  
 
 
 
) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
)  No. 168, 2002 
 
 
Defendant Below,  
 
) 
 
 
Appellant,  
 
 
)  Court Below:  Superior Court 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
)  of the State of Delaware in 
v. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
)  and for New Castle County 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
 
)  Cr. ID# 0106006720 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
) 
 
 
Plaintiff Below,  
 
 
) 
 
 
Appellee. 
 
 
 
) 
 
Submitted:  July 11, 2002 
Decided:  September 3, 2002 
 
Before WALSH, BERGER and STEELE, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
 
This 3rd day of September 2002, upon consideration of the briefs of the 
parties, it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
On June 2, 2001, Wilmington police arrested Appellant Harry Lyons 
for Driving Under the Influence.  The State timely notified Lyons that it would 
seek “fourth-offender” status for purposes of enhanced sentencing under Del. Code 
Ann. tit. 21 § 4177(d)(4).  In November 2001, the Superior Court denied Lyons’ 
“Motion to Declare Fourth Offender Designation Inapplicable.”  Lyons was 
convicted of Driving Under the Influence in March 2002 and sentenced as a fourth-
offender.  This is Lyons’ direct appeal. 
 
2
 
(2) 
In 1986, Appellant Lyons entered into a First Offender’s Program in a 
Family Court proceeding after being charged with Driving Under the Influence as 
a juvenile.  Lyons was arrested and charged with Driving Under the Influence for a 
second time in 1994 and again opted to enter into a First Offender’s Program, this 
time as an adult through the Justice of the Peace Court.  In 1999, he was convicted 
of Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree as a result of negligent operation of a 
vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.1  A conviction for a vehicular assault 
where use of alcohol is an element of the offense constitutes a “prior or previous 
offense” for purposes of an enhanced penalty under Del. Code Ann. tit. 21 § 
4177(d).2  Based on these earlier offenses, the Superior Court determined that the 
State had established the required elements for fourth offender status and denied 
Lyons’ motion.  The sole issue before this Court on appeal is whether or not the 
Superior Court properly considered the DUI violation adjudicated in the Family 
Court while he was a minor to be a predicate offense for purposes of establishing 
Lyons’ status as a fourth offender. 
 
(3) 
Under Delaware’s Motor Vehicle Code, a defendant convicted of 
driving under the influence for a fourth offense is guilty of a class E felony.3  A 
“prior or previous conviction or offense,” as used in Section 4177, is defined not 
                                                 
1 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11 § 628(2) (2001). 
2 Del. Code Ann. tit. 21 § 4177B(e)(1)(b) (2000 Supp.). 
3 Del. Code Ann. tit. 21 § 4177(d)(4) (1995). 
 
3
only as a conviction pursuant to Section 4177 or certain other criminal statutes, but 
also includes participation in a First Offenders Program of rehabilitation under 
Section 4177B.4  This language includes any First Offender election, including that 
made by a juvenile in Family Court.  The mere fact that the disposition of a 
juvenile charge in Family Court is a finding of delinquency and not a “criminal 
conviction” does not except it from the plain language of the statute.  Indeed, the 
definition of “offense” includes any “conditional adjudication of guilt, any court 
order, or any agreement sanctioned by a court requiring or permitting a person to 
apply for, enroll in or otherwise accept first offender treatment….”5  A disposition 
in the Family Court commonly known as an adjudication of delinquency clearly 
falls within this definition.  Thus, the Superior Court properly considered Lyons’ 
1988 election to enter a First Offender’s Program through the Family Court to be 
the result of a previous “offense” for the purpose of a fourth offender and 
sentencing him accordingly.   
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the decision of the Superior 
Court be, and hereby is, AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
__Myron T. Steele__________________ 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
 
                                                 
4 Del. Code Ann. tit. 21 § 4177B(e)(1)(d) (2000 Supp.). 
5 Id.