Title: Benjamin F. Whiteman v. State of Delaware

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
BENJAMIN F. WHITEMAN, 
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§ 
§  No. 251, 2015 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware, 
§  in and for New Castle County 
§  Cr. ID 30901716DI 
§    
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: July 22, 2015 
 
 
 
 
Decided: 
September 9, 2015 
 
Before STRINE, Chief Justice; VAUGHN, and SEITZ, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
This 9th day of September 2015, upon consideration of the appellant’s 
opening brief, the State’s motion to affirm, and the record on appeal, it 
appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, Benjamin Whiteman, filed this appeal 
from the Superior Court’s order, dated May 11, 2015, denying his motion for 
correction of sentence.  We find no merit to the appeal.  Accordingly, we 
affirm. 
(2) 
Whiteman was sentenced to life imprisonment as a habitual 
offender in 1989.  This Court affirmed his conviction and sentence on direct 
 
2 
appeal.1  Since that time, Whiteman has filed multiple repetitive motions 
arguing that his habitual offender sentence is illegal because it was imposed 
in an illegal manner.  This Court has affirmed the Superior Court’s denial of 
all of Whiteman’s challenges to his sentence.  As we already have held, 
Whiteman is “foreclosed from asserting a claim based upon that issue” 
because our prior decisions constitute the law of the case.2 
 
(3) 
We will not continue to invest scarce judicial resources in 
addressing Whiteman’s repetitive and frivolous claims.  In the future, any 
appeal or writ filed by Whiteman challenging the legality of his habitual 
offender sentence will be subject to involuntary dismissal without prior 
notice under Supreme Court Rule 29(c). 
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the 
Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
                                                 
1 Whiteman v. State, 1991 WL 12112 (Del. Jan. 11, 1991). 
2 Whiteman v. State, 2013 WL 5346310 (Del. Sept. 20, 2013).