Title: Matter of Johnson

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
IN THE MATTER OF THE 
PETITION OF JOHN C. JOHNSON 
FOR A WRIT OF ERROR CORAM 
NOBIS 
§ 
§  No. 404, 2010 
§ 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: July 26, 2010 
 
 
 
 
  Decided: August 31, 2010 
 
Before HOLLAND, BERGER, and JACOBS, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
 
This 31st day of August 2010, upon consideration of the petition of 
John Johnson for a writ of error coram nobis, it appears to the Court that:  
(1) 
The petitioner, John Johnson, pled guilty in 1998 to one count 
of aggravated menacing.  In 2001, he pled guilty to second degree murder 
and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.  He did not 
file a direct appeal from his conviction.  Instead, in 2008, he filed a motion 
for postconviction relief, which the Superior Court denied.1  This Court 
affirmed that judgment.2  Johnson filed his current petition alleging that the 
Superior Court did not have jurisdiction over his 1998 conviction, which led 
to his receiving an enhanced minimum mandatory sentence for his 2001 
weapon conviction.  
                                                 
1 State v. Johnson, 2009 WL 866180 (Del. Super. Mar. 31, 2009) 
2 Johnson v. State, 2009 WL 2860974 (Del. Sept. 4, 2009). 
 
- 2 - 
(2) 
This Court has held that the writ of error coram nobis, which 
was an ancient common law writ of error for review of facts only, has been 
abolished in Delaware and has been supplanted by modern rules of 
procedure for reopening a judgment.1 In Delaware, Superior Court Criminal 
Rule 61 is the exclusive remedy for seeking to set aside a final judgment of 
conviction.2 Accordingly, the writ of error coram nobis is not one of the 
extraordinary writs within the original jurisdiction of this Court.3     
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that Johnson’s petition for a 
writ of error coram nobis is DISMISSED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Carolyn Berger 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
 
1 See In re Nicholson, 1994 WL 35367 (Del. Jan. 31, 1994) (citing Tweed v. 
Lockton, 167 A. 703, 705 n.2 (Del. Super. 1932)). 
 
2 Del. Super. Ct. Crim. R. 61(a)(2) (2010). 
3 See Del. Const. art. IV, § 11(5).