Title: Hall v. State

State: delaware

Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court

Document:

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
MURRAY HALL, III,  
 
Defendant Below, 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Appellee. 
§ 
§   
§  No. 397, 2022 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§ 
§  Cr. ID No. 2102000900 (K)  
§   
§ 
 
 
Submitted: November 3, 2022 
Decided: 
November 21, 2022 
 
Before SEITZ, Chief Justice; VAUGHN and TRAYNOR, Justices. 
 
 
ORDER 
 
Upon consideration of the notice to show cause and the response, it appears 
to the Court that:   
(1) 
On October 6, 2022, the appellant, Murray Hall, III, filed this appeal 
from a Superior Court Commissioner’s order denying his motion for appointment of 
counsel.  The Senior Court Clerk issued a notice directing Hall to show cause why 
this appeal should not be dismissed for this Court’s lack of jurisdiction to consider 
an appeal directly from a Superior Court Commissioner’s order.  In his response to 
the notice to show cause, Hall argues the substantive merits of his motion for 
appointment of counsel and does not address the jurisdictional defect.   
 
2 
(2) 
In the absence of intermediate review by a Superior Court judge, this 
Court has no jurisdiction to hear an appeal directly from a Superior Court 
Commissioner’s order.1  Once the Superior Court resolves Hall’s pending motion 
for postconviction relief, Hall may argue on appeal that the Superior Court 
Commissioner erred in denying his motion for appointment of counsel.  This appeal 
must be dismissed. 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b), 
that this appeal is DISMISSED.   
BY THE COURT: 
 
/s/ Gary F. Traynor 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice 
 
 
1 Johnson v. State, 884 A.2d 475, 479 (Del. 2005).  Even if a Superior Court judge had reviewed 
the Commissioner’s decision denying the motion for appointment of counsel, this Court also lacks 
jurisdiction to hear an interlocutory appeal in a criminal matter.  Del. Const. Art. IV, § 11(1)(b).