SUPERIOR COURT

OF THE

STATE OF DELAWARE

PAUL R. WALLACE

JUDGE

NEW CASTLE COUNTY COURTHOUSE

500 N. KING STREET, SUITE 10400

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE 19801

(302) 255-0660

Date Decided: September 3, 2021 

Date Issued: September 10, 2021

Mr. Anthony A. Figliola, Jr., Esq. Mr. John W. Downs, Esquire

Greto Law Department of Justice

715 N. Tatnall Street Deputy Attorney General

Wilmington, Delaware 19801 820 N. French Street, 7th Floor

Wilmington, Delaware 19801

RE: State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

 ID No. 1909010294

Dear Counsel: 

This Letter Order memorializes the Court’s ruling made at the September 3, 

2021 status conference with respect to Defendant Anthony Dale’s Motion to 

Subpoena Records and Conduct an In Camera Review. Mr. Dale’s motion is 

granted, but pursuant to Burns v. State and its progeny, is limited in scope to 

safeguard the witness, Indi Islam’s, privacy interests in her confidential medical or 

other treatment records.

1

 In balancing Mr. Dale’s Sixth Amendment confrontation 

right with Ms. Islam’s privacy rights in her protected medical or other treatment 

records, the permissible scope of production includes only those portions of the 

records that: (1) discuss her memory, or lack thereof, of the crimes central to this 

case; and (2) any diagnosis and/or subsequent treatment following her broken jaw 

injury and any memory loss associated therewith.

1 Burns v. State, 968 A.2d 1012 (Del. 2009) (en banc).
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

Page 2 of 11

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. THE PARTIES

The Motion to Subpoena Records was originally filed by Mr. Dale’s codefendant, Maleke Brittingham.2

 Mr. Dale joined in this motion.3 Mr. Brittingham 

later entered into a plea agreement and is currently awaiting sentencing.4 Mr. Dale 

remains the sole active defendant in this case, and accordingly, remains the sole party 

pursuing the production of documents set forth in the original Motion to Subpoena 

Records. 

Ms. Indi Islam is a co-defendant in this matter who also entered into a plea 

agreement with the State.

5

 She pleaded guilty to Attempted Murder in the Second 

Degree, with an agreement to testify in the trial of her co-defendants, Messrs. Dale 

and Brittingham.6 As such, Ms. Islam is a key State witness against Mr. Dale. 

Mr. Dale seeks to obtain healthcare and other treatment records from certain 

identified providers of healthcare or related treatment services to Ms. Islam; such 

treatment occurring after the Printz Market shooting. Those providers are: (1) State 

of Delaware Department of Correction (DOC); (2) Christiana Care Health Services

(CCHS); (3) Psychotherapeutic Services/Madre House Transitional Housing; and

2 Mot. to Subpoena Records, State v. Maleke Brittingham, ID No. 1909010295 (Del. Super. Ct. 

Feb. 13, 2021).

3 Letter to Join, State v. Anthony L. Dale, ID No. 1909010294 (Del. Super. Ct. Apr. 27, 2020).

4 Plea Agreement and TIS Guilty Plea Form, State v. Maleke Brittingham, ID No. 1909010295

(Del. Super. Ct. June 25, 2020).

5

 Mot. to Subpoena, Appx. 2, Ex. E, Indi Islam Plea Agreement.

6

Id.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

Page 3 of 11

(4) the YWCA Delaware Home-Life Management Center.

B. THE RELEVANCE OF MS.ISLAM’S MEDICAL AND TREATMENT RECORDS

On June 7, 2013, the Printz Market at 2715 Governor Printz Boulevard in 

Wilmington was robbed by three men.7 During the robbery, two men were shot—

one of them, Anthony Berry, fatally.

8 Soon thereafter, on June 19, 2013, Mr. Dale 

was arrested by the Wilmington Police Department for firearms charges.

9

 When 

questioned, Mr. Dale told police that his cousin, Maleke Brittingham, had borrowed 

his firearm, thereby implicating him in the Printz Market shooting.10 Police 

subsequently searched both Mr. Brittingham’s and Mr. Dale’s apartments, but no 

evidence was found that could link either of them to the slaying of Anthony Berry.11

After the fruitless searches, the case went cold for about five years when, in May of 

2018, police had occasion to interview Ms. Islam.12 

Ms. Islam had numerous conversations with Wilmington police investigators 

during the summer of 2018 that ultimately led to her admitting her involvement in 

the 2013 Printz Market robbery.13 During Ms. Islam’s several interviews with 

7 Mot. to Subpoena, p. 1.

8

Id.

9

Id.

10 Id.

11 Id.

12 Id. at 1-2.

13 Id. at 2.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

Page 4 of 11

investigators—the content of which Mr. Dale suggests are inconsistent in the 

reporting of details and also evidence questionable periods of lucidity—she

identified and described Mr. Dale’s and Mr. Brittingham’s involvement in the Printz 

Market murder.

14 Ms. Islam was charged for her own involvement in the robbery 

and has pleaded guilty to Attempted Murder in the Second Degree, with an 

agreement to testify in the trial of Messrs. Dale and Brittingham.15 As a condition 

of her plea, she is to complete a substance abuse evaluation and adhere to any 

prescribed treatment plan.

16

Ms. Islam’s piecemeal interviews spanned the course of a few months and 

were conducted in numerous locations, including Baylor Women’s Correctional 

Institution (BWCI), the YWCA shelter, the police station, and the Madre House.17 

Prior to investigators’ first interview with Ms. Islam at BWCI, she had recently been 

admitted to a CCHS hospital for treatment of a broken jaw resulting from an alleged 

assault.18 While trying to provide investigators with details related to her broken 

jaw, she had difficulty remembering the night, as she was dazed when she fell to the 

ground.19 She conveys that after being hit, she got dizzy, spun around, fell face14 Id. at 2-4.

15 Id. at 4.

16 Mot. to Subpoena, Appx. 2, Ex. E, Indi Islam Plea Agreement.

17 Mot. to Subpoena, pp. 2-4. 

18 Mot. to Subpoena, Appx. 1, Ex. A, Indi Islam Timeline, p. 1.

19 Id. at Appx. 1, Ex. C, May 15, 2018 Interview of Indi Islam, p. 3.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

Page 5 of 11

down, and blacked out.

20

 Reportedly, her ride to the hospital, her stay at the hospital,

and subsequent discharge from the hospital are difficult for her to remember.21

Likewise, Ms. Islam’s recitation of events surrounding the 2013 Printz Market 

robbery follow in a similar pattern and at times appear contradictory. As such, the 

reliability of her recollection of events has been called into question by Mr. Dale.

Though Ms. Islam’s jaw injury—and any lingering effects thereafter—

occurred five years after the Printz Market robbery, her ability to recall events prior 

to the injury undoubtedly raises concerns about the reliability and consistency of her 

statements to investigators. Thus, a limited inquiry into her health and treatment 

records in camera is necessary to protect Mr. Dale’s Sixth Amendment right of 

confrontation right and to ensure his ability to engage an effective cross-examination 

of this witness.

II. DISCUSSION

A. GUIDANCE UNDER BURNS AND WOOD COUNSELS WHEN AN IN CAMERA

REVIEW OF PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS IS APPROPRIATE.

When seeking production of records in which a third-party has a privacy 

interest, a criminal defendant must make a “‘plausible showing’ that the information 

he is seeking is relevant and material.”22 Too, that defendant must specifically 

identify the types and kinds of records sought, as well as a compelling basis for the 

request.23 And, when articulating a compelling basis for the request, he must satisfy 

20 Id. at Appx. 2, Ex. D, June 11, 2018 Interview of Indi Islam, p. 28.

21 Id. at 29-30.

22 Burns, 968 A.2d at 1025.

23 Id.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

Page 6 of 11

the Court that he is not just “embarking on a fishing expedition into the witness’s

medical or psychological history.”24 Upon such a showing, the Court will issue a 

subpoena for the records to be returned to the Court for an in camera review, where 

the Court will determine whether and which records are relevant and material to the 

defendant’s case.25 The process of an in camera inspection of a witness’s privileged 

medical records enables the Court to engage in a balancing of protecting the 

witnesses’ right to privacy and confidentiality and protecting the defendant’s 

constitutional confrontation right.26

Delaware Criminal Rule 17(c) is, in all relevant respects, consistent with its 

analog in the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. And both are properly invoked 

to seek evidence or documents that are admissible at trial.

27 Rule 17(c) provides for 

the usual subpoena duces tecum or subpoena ad testificandum. It does not, however, 

provide an additional means of broad discovery.28 Accordingly, Rule 17(c) is the 

vehicle that allows the Court, in a very narrow set of circumstances, to “direct that 

books, papers, documents or objects designated in the subpoena be produced” in 

camera for the Court’s inspection and review to determine if they are due to the 

parties and their attorneys.29

24 Id. at 1025-26.

25 State v. Wood, 2007 WL 441953 at *6 (Del. Super. Ct. Feb. 1, 2007).

26 Id.

27 Id. at *2-3.

28 Id. at *3.

29 Id. at *2. 
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

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On this score, the three-prong framework articulated by this Court in State v. 

Wood (echoing Burns) governs when an in camera review is appropriate. That 

requires a defendant to: (1) identify precisely the records he is seeking and to assert 

a compelling basis for the request; (2) attempt to procure the consent of the 

victim/witness for release of the records before resorting to Rule 17 or the Court; 

and, (3) demonstrate with specificity that the information he is seeking is relevant 

and material to his defense.30

1. Dale has precisely identified the records to be produced and has 

stated a compelling basis for his request.

In Wood, the Court found the first prong of the framework was not met 

because the defendant made “no showing of precisely which records the defense is 

seeking by the subpoena.”31 Because Wood issued a broad blanket request for the 

victims’ records under Rule 17(c) he could not meet the precision requirement.32

Conversely, in Burns, our Supreme Court found the defendant did meet this 

requirement because his request seeking “only the factual information contained in 

[the] therapy records” was “sufficiently precise and narrow.”33 Burns also 

established that his compelling justification for the records was to use them for 

impeachment purposes.34 There, “[t]he crimes with which he was charged had 

30 Id. at *5-6.

31 Id. at *7. The Court also discussed the timing of Wood’s request, which is of no moment 

here. Id.

32 Id.

33 Burns, 968 A.2d at 1026.

34 Id.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

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occurred years before, there was no physical evidence, the victims had made 

arguably inconsistent factual statements, and . . . the case would turn largely on the 

jury’s determination of credibility.”35 Burns made a plausible showing that any prior 

relevant factual inconsistencies by the witnesses could only be determined from an 

in camera inspection of the witnesses’ confidential medical records.36

Here Mr. Dale has met the first Wood requirement. He has specifically 

requested Ms. Islam’s treatment records from CCHS, Madre House, the DOC, and 

the YWCA.37 But on this point, the Court finds the only records permitted to be 

produced are those limited to Ms. Islam’s discussions of her memory, or lack thereof, 

of the events in question, and of any diagnosis and/or subsequent treatment 

following her broken jaw injury that suggest a resultant lack of memory or ability to 

recall. 

Second, Mr. Dale asserts the records are necessary for impeachment purposes

because they may “bring to light Islam’s tendency to abuse substances and have 

memory issues, as well as any mental health issues that may affect her ability to be 

a credible witness.”

38

 A fair reading of the record thus far aligns this case more with 

Burns than Wood: Mr. Dale’s charged crimes occurred years ago, Ms. Islam has 

reportedly made numerous inconsistent factual statements, her testimony is critical 

35 Id.

36 Id.

37 Mot. to Subpoena, p. 11.

38 Id.
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

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to the State’s case, and the case could turn largely on the jury’s determination of her 

credibility. 

2. Dale has first attempted to procure the victim’s consent for the 

release of records prior to seeking judicial intervention.

The second requirement under Wood is clear and to the point—either the 

defendant did or didn’t seek and receive the victim’s consent for production of 

records in which she may have a privacy inerest. Here, Mr. Dale asserts he requested 

the relevant materials from the State but never received them.

39

 Similarly, Mr. Dale 

avers he also requested the records from Ms. Islam’s counsel directly, who at the 

time of the motion, responded but has not provided the requested records.40 Given 

the circumstance, the Court deems these efforts sufficient under Wood. 

3. Dale has demonstrated with specificity the records sought are 

relevant and material to his defense.

In Wood, the Court found the defendant did not meet the third prong of the 

test because he failed to make a showing of what he expected the records to 

establish.41 There, the defendant was charged with eighteen counts of first-degree 

rape and two counts of continuous sexual abuse of a child—both crimes involving 

minor victims.42 In his subpoenas, and pursuant to Del. Crim. R. 17(c), Wood

broadly sought any and all treatment and counseling records from two entities

39 Id.

40 Id.

41 Wood, 2007 WL 441953 at *7. 

42 Id. at *1. 
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

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regarding his victims and their families with nothing more.

43

 There, the Court found 

the request too broad to establish what the defendant expected the records to provide

in assistance of his defense.44

The Burns court held that a defendant’s burden to meet the third requirement 

compels a “‘plausible showing’ that the records sought are material and relevant.”45 

Such a showing need convince the Court “that the defendant is not embarking on a 

‘fishing expedition’ into the witness’ medical or psychological history.”46 Burns 

made a plausible showing that the witnesses’ confidential records could contain 

factual inconsistencies and were relevant and material because “(i) the [victims] had 

prepared detailed notes of their alleged abuse and destroyed those notes after their 

[Child Advocacy Center] interviews, and (ii) the [victims] presumably had discussed 

their interviews at length with their therapist.”47 

Here, Mr. Dale satisfies the third prong of the Burns-Wood test because he has 

identified the relevant healthcare providers, the relevant records, and has 

substantially demonstrated how each record may be material to his defense. In turn, 

the Court finds that any record indicating significant long-term memory loss after 

her mandible injury, or any record that relates to Ms. Islam’s discussion of the crimes 

central to this case, are no doubt relevant and material to Mr. Dale’s defense. 

43 Id.

44 Id. at *7.

45 Burns, 968 A.2d at 1025.

46 Id.

47 Id. at 1026. 
State of Delaware v. Anthony Dale

ID No. 1909010294

September 10, 2021

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III. CONCLUSION

Because Mr. Dale made the requisite showings, production of certain of Ms. 

Islam’s records for an in camera review is proper. And so, Mr. Dale’s Motion to 

Subpoena Records and Conduct an In Camera Review is GRANTED. As discussed 

throughout, the limited portions of the records to be produced include only those 

documents that pertain to Ms. Islam’s discussions of her memory, or lack thereof, of 

the events in question, and any diagnosis and/or subsequent treatment following her 

broken jaw injury and any memory loss associated therewith.

The records subpoenaed under Rule 17 will be returnable to this Court for an 

in camera inspection whereby the Court will determine which records are relevant 

and material to the defendant’s case and therefore subject to production under Burns

and Wood. Mr. Dale’s counsel shall provide the dates of service or admission for 

each treatment provider or entity no later than September 30, 2021. The subpoenas 

shall issue immediately thereafter. 

IT IS SO ORDERED.

 _______________________

Paul R. Wallace, Judge

cc: All Counsel via File and Serve