Case Title: Gibbs v. State

Citation: 

Docket Number: 124, 2011

State: delaware

Court: Delaware Supreme Court

Date: 2011-07-29T00:00:00Z

Document:
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
EDWARD GIBBS, 
 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
No. 124, 2011 
 
Petitioner Below,  
 
§ 
Appellant, 
§ 
Court Below—Superior Court  
§ 
of the State of Delaware in and  
 
v. 
 
 
 
 
§ 
for Sussex County 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
§ 
C.A. No. S11M-02-023 
 
Respondent Below, 
 
§ 
Cr. ID No. 0305016899 
 
Appellee. 
 
 
 
§ 
 
Submitted: May 24, 2011 
Decided: 
July 29, 2011 
 
Before HOLLAND, BERGER and JACOBS, Justices.  
 
O R D E R 
 
 
This 29th day of July 2011, upon consideration of the opening brief 
filed by the appellant, Edward Gibbs, and the motion to affirm filed by the 
appellee, State of Delaware, it appears to the Court that: 
(1) 
In 2003, following Edward Gibbs’ conviction of Escape after 
Conviction, the State filed a motion to declare Gibbs a habitual offender.  At 
sentencing, the Superior Court granted the State’s motion, declared Gibbs a 
habitual offender and sentenced him to twenty years at Level V 
imprisonment, followed by six months of Level IV work release.  On direct 
2 
 
appeal, this Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.1  In 2006, 
the Court affirmed the denial of Gibbs’ motion for postconviction relief.2 
(2) 
In April 2009, Gibbs filed a motion for correction of sentence. 
Gibbs alleged that the State had not established that he was the same Edward 
Gibbs who was convicted of the predicate offenses listed in the habitual 
offender motion.  By order dated May 4, 2009, the Superior Court denied 
Gibbs’ motion for correction of sentence as without merit.  On appeal, this 
Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.3 
(3) 
Fifteen months later, Gibbs filed a petition for a writ of habeas 
corpus.  Gibbs again claimed that the State had not established that he was 
the same Edward Gibbs as had committed the predicate offenses cited in the 
State’s habitual offender motion.  By order dated February 24, 2011, the 
Superior Court denied the habeas corpus petition.  This appeal followed. 
(4) 
Gibbs has not demonstrated that he is entitled to habeas corpus 
relief.  It is clear to the Court that the Superior Court had jurisdiction over 
                                            
1 Gibbs v. State, 2005 WL 535011 (Del. Supr.). 
2 Gibbs v. State, 2006 WL 3455097 (Del. Supr.). 
3 See Gibbs v. State, 2009 WL 3260807, n.6 (Del. Supr.) (noting that Gibbs, although 
fully apprised of the documentary evidence the State intended to rely on in support of the 
habitual offender motion, did not raise his claim of mistaken identity at sentencing, on 
direct appeal, in his motion for postconviction relief, or in a prior motion for correction of 
sentence). 
3 
 
the crime for which Gibbs was convicted and that the commitment of Gibbs 
to the custody of the Department of Correction is valid on its face.4  
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/ Carolyn Berger  
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
                                            
4 Curran v. Woolley, 104 A.2d 771, 773 (Del. 1954).