Case Title: Burris v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 456, 2018

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2018-12-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
WILLIAM F. BURRIS,  
 
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§ 
No. 456, 2018 
Defendant Below,  
 
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Appellant,  
 
 
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Court Below:  Superior Court   
 
 
 
 
 
 
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of the State of Delaware 
v. 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
Cr. ID No. 92K01637DI 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
 
 
Plaintiff Below, 
 
 
§ 
  
Appellee. 
 
 
 
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Submitted:  September 26, 2018 
  Decided:  December 13, 2018 
 
Before VALIHURA, VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices. 
 
       
O R D E R 
 
Upon careful consideration of the appellant’s opening brief, the State’s motion 
to affirm, and the record, we affirm the Superior Court’s summary dismissal of the 
appellant’s motion for postconviction relief under Superior Court Criminal Rule 61. 
The belated motion, filed more than twenty years after the appellant’s convictions 
became final, was based on a flawed legal premise that the appellant’s sentence 
violated the prohibition against double jeopardy because he was sentenced in 
Maryland for similar conduct.* 
                                          
 
* See Petition of Hovey, 545 A.2d 626, 629 (Del. 1988) (“The United States Supreme Court has 
recognized that separate jurisdictions may prosecute and punish violations in their respective 
jurisdictions.” (citing cases)). 
2 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the State’s motion to affirm is 
GRANTED.  The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/  James T. Vaughn, Jr.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice