Title: Cirwithian v. State

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
JOSHUA CIRWITHIAN, 
 
Defendant Below, 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below, 
Appellee. 
§ 
§   
§  No. 498, 2019 
§ 
§  Court Below: Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§   
§  Cr. ID Nos. 1812014043 (N) 
§                      1812006782 (N) 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
Submitted: December 6, 2019 
Decided: 
December 20, 2019 
 
Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VAUGHN, and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
ORDER 
 
 
After consideration of the notice to show cause and the appellant’s response, 
it appears to the Court that: 
(1) 
The Court received a letter from Joshua Cirwithian, a criminal 
defendant who is represented by counsel in the Superior Court.  Based upon its 
contents and a review of the Superior Court docket, the Clerk deemed the letter to 
be a notice of appeal from Cirwithian’s conviction in the Superior Court following 
trial.   
 
2 
(2) 
Under the Delaware Constitution, this Court may review only a final 
judgment in a criminal case.1  Because the docket indicated that Cirwithian had not 
yet been sentenced, the Chief Deputy Clerk sent a notice to Cirwithian directing him 
to show cause why his appeal should not be dismissed for the Court’s lack of 
jurisdiction to entertain an interlocutory appeal in a criminal case.  In response, 
Cirwithian contends that the State did not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt 
and raises other challenges to the merits of his conviction. 
(3) 
“Under settled Delaware constitutional law only a final judgment in a 
criminal case is reviewable in this Court.”2  Because Cirwithian has not yet been 
sentenced for his convictions, his appeal is interlocutory, and this Court has no 
jurisdiction to consider it.3 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b), 
that the appeal is DISMISSED.  
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
        Chief Justice  
 
                                                 
1 DEL. CONST. art. IV, § 11(1)(b); Gottlieb v. State, 697 A.2d 400, 401-02 (Del. 1997). 
2 Rash v. State, 318 A.2d 603, 604 (Del. 1974). 
3 Potts v. State, 2018 WL 6015781 (Del. Nov. 15, 2018).