Case Title: Johnson v. Danberg, et al.

Citation: 

Docket Number: 287, 2009

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2009-08-20T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
DERRICK L. JOHNSON, 
 
 
Petitioner Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
CARL DANBERG, Commissioner, 
DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION, 
and PERRY PHELPS, Warden, 
VAUGHN CORRECTIONAL 
CENTER, 
 
Respondents Below- 
Appellees. 
§ 
§ 
§  No. 287, 2009 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware, 
§  in and for New Castle County 
§  C.A. No. 09M-04-028  
§   
§ 
§ 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
Submitted:  July 14, 2009 
Decided:  August 20, 2009 
 
Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND, and RIDGELY, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
This 20th day of August 2009, upon consideration of the appellant’s 
opening brief and the State’s motion to affirm, it appears to the Court that: 
(1) 
The appellant, Derrick Johnson, filed this appeal from the 
Superior Court’s dismissal of his petition for a writ of mandamus.  The State 
has filed a motion to affirm the judgment below on the ground that it is 
manifest on the face of Johnson’s opening brief that the appeal is without 
merit.  We agree and affirm. 
 
2
(2) 
Johnson pled guilty in 1984 to second degree murder.  He is 
serving a term of life imprisonment.  He filed for a writ of mandamus asking 
that Commissioner Carl Danberg and Warden Perry Phelps of the 
Department of Correction be compelled to treat his life sentence as a term of 
45 years and to reduce his prison term by good time credits.  The Superior 
Court dismissed his petition as factually and legally frivolous.  We agree. 
(3) 
Johnson raised this exact issue in two prior proceedings, which 
were unsuccessful.1  As we previously held, Johnson is not eligible for 
conditional release; therefore, “good time credit may only be applied to 
Johnson’s sentence to accelerate his parole eligibility date, not [to reduce] 
the length of his sentence.”2  We will not reconsider this settled issue in this 
proceeding. 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the 
Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Myron T. Steele 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chief Justice 
                                                 
1 See Johnson v. State, 2006 WL 197178 (Del. Jan. 24, 2006); Johnson v. State, 2006 
WL 1650802 (Del. June 13, 2006). 
2 Johnson v. State, 2006 WL 1650802 (Del. June 13, 2006).