Case Title: Hubble v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 498, 2012

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2013-06-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
STEVEN M. HUBBLE,  
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE,  
 
           Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§  No. 498, 2012 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below─Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§  in and for Sussex County 
§  Cr. ID No. 91S00228DI 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
                                             Submitted: May 10, 2013 
 
 
 
 
        Decided:  June 12, 2013 
 
Before STEELE, Chief Justice, HOLLAND and BERGER, Justices 
 
 
 
 
 
 
O R D E R  
 
 
This 12th day of June 2013, upon consideration of the briefs of the 
parties and the record below, it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, Steven M. Hubble, filed an appeal 
from the Superior Court’s May 14, 2012 order denying the Board of Parole’s 
request for sentence modification pursuant to Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, §4217.  
We find no merit to the appeal.  Accordingly, we affirm. 
 
(2) 
The record reflects that, in December 1991, Hubble pleaded 
guilty to Murder in the Second Degree as a lesser-included offense of 
Murder in the First Degree, and Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the 
Commission of a Felony.  He was sentenced to twenty years of Level V 
 
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incarceration on the murder conviction and to ten years at Level V followed 
by six months of Level II probation on the weapon conviction.   
 
(3) 
On April 26, 2012, the Board of Parole filed a letter with the 
Superior Court requesting that Hubble’s sentence be modified pursuant to 
Section 4217 in accordance with the request of the Department of 
Correction.  The Board of Parole requested that Hubble’s Level V sentence 
be suspended for time served, to be followed by nine months of Level IV 
Work Release, in turn to be followed by community supervision.  The 
reasons cited by the Board of Parole were Hubble’s rehabilitative efforts and 
the fact that he was no longer a danger to the community.  The Department 
of Justice opposed the request.  On May 14, 2012, the Superior Court denied 
the Board of Parole’s request.  This appeal followed. 
 
(4) 
In his appeal, Hubble claims that the Superior Court abused its 
discretion when it denied the Board of Parole’s request that his sentence be 
modified. 
 
(5) 
  Section 4217(b) provides that the Superior Court “may” 
modify a sentence based upon a showing of “good cause” and certification 
that the defendant does not constitute a “substantial risk to the community.”  
Under §4217(c), “good cause” may include “exceptional rehabilitation of the 
offender.”  Section 4217(e) provides that the Superior Court “may in its 
 
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discretion grant or deny the application for modification of sentence.”  This 
Court will not reverse a discretionary decision such as the Superior Court’s 
denial of a recommendation for sentence modification by the Board of 
Parole unless such denial was based upon unreasonable or capricious 
grounds.1   
 
(6) 
In this case, the record reflects that, in considering whether to 
grant the Board of Parole’s request, the Superior Court had evidence before 
it reflecting that the crimes of which Hubble was convicted were particularly 
violent in nature.  Moreover, Hubble had been given the benefit of a thirty-
year period of incarceration instead of life in prison under his plea 
agreement with the State.  The Superior Court noted that, while Hubble had 
participated in prison programs, that participation did not rise to the level of 
“good cause” under the statute.  Under these circumstances, we cannot 
conclude that there was any abuse of discretion on the part of the Superior 
Court in denying the request of the Board of Parole for a modification of 
Hubble’s sentence.  Therefore, the Superior Court’s judgment must be 
affirmed. 
 
 
                                                 
1 Zimmerman v. State, 628 A.2d 62, 65 (Del. 1993). 
 
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NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the 
Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Randy J. Holland 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice