Title: Mifflin v. State

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
JAMIE MIFFLIN, 
 
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§ 
§  No. 570, 2013 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware, 
§  in and for Sussex County 
§  Cr. ID 1101000090  
§   
§   
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: February 4, 2014 
 
 
 
 
  Decided: March 18, 2014 
 
Before HOLLAND, BERGER and RIDGELY, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
This 18th day of March 2014, upon consideration of the appellant’s opening 
brief and the State’s motion to affirm, it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, Jamie Mifflin, filed this appeal from the 
Superior Court’s decision sentencing him for his second violation of probation 
(VOP).  The State of Delaware has filed a motion to affirm the judgment below on 
the ground that it is manifest on the face of Mifflin’s opening brief that his appeal 
is without merit.  We agree and affirm. 
 
(2) 
The record reflects that, in May 2011, Mifflin pled guilty to a fifth 
offense of Driving Under the Influence.  The Superior Court sentenced him to 
three years at Level V incarceration, with credit for 124 days previously served, to 
 
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be suspended after serving nine months at Level V incarceration for one year at the 
Level IV Crest Program, to be suspended upon the successful completion of the 
Crest Program for the balance to be served at Level III Aftercare.  After the 
Superior Court sentenced Mifflin for his first VOP in August 2012, this Court 
remanded Mifflin’s sentence to the Superior Court to give Mifflin proper credit for 
all time served.  Following the remand, the Superior Court corrected Mifflin’s 
sentence, effective August 2, 2012, to impose one year and ten months at Level V 
incarceration, to be suspended upon successful completion of the Level V Key 
Program for decreasing levels of supervision. 
 
(3) 
On September 20, 2013, the Superior Court sentenced Mifflin for his 
second VOP to eight months at Level V incarceration with no probation to follow.  
Mifflin does not contest the violation.  Nonetheless, he filed this appeal arguing 
that, by sentencing him to all of the remaining time left on his Level V sentence, 
the Superior Court failed to credit him with all of the good time he previously 
earned while at Level V incarceration.  According to Mifflin, the Superior Court 
should have applied his previously earned credits and ordered his release date to be 
November 12, 2013.  
 
(4) 
We find no merit to Mifflin’s contention.  Upon finding a defendant 
guilty of a VOP, the Superior Court is authorized to reimpose any previously 
 
3
suspended prison term.1  Moreover, a defendant in the custody of the Department 
of Correction (DOC) who is convicted of any crime or is found in violation of any 
DOC rules during the term of his sentence is subject to forfeiture of all good time 
accrued before the date of the new offense.2 
 
(5) 
In this case, Mifflin admitted that he signed himself out of the Crest 
Program after only one day because he believed that he did not have enough time 
remaining on his sentence in order to complete the Crest Program.  Under these 
circumstances, the Superior Court’s finding of a VOP is clearly supported by the 
record.  Moreover, Mifflin’s VOP sentence properly credited him with Level V 
time he served while awaiting entrance into the Key Program, as well as the time 
he spent in the Key Program and the time he was held at Level V pending 
resolution of his VOP.  Mifflin’s contention that he was improperly denied good 
time credit is simply wrong.3 
 
 NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the Superior 
Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Randy J. Holland  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
                                                 
1 Gamble v. State, 728 A.2d 1171, 1172 (Del. 1999). 
2 DEL. CODE ANN. tit. 11, § 4382(a), (b) (2007). 
3 See Nardini v. Willin, 245 A.2d 164, 165-66 (Del. 1968).