IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 

DESI R. SYKES, § 

 § No. 452, 2017 

 Defendant Below, § 

Appellant, § Court Below—Superior Court 

 § of the State of Delaware 

v. § 

 § Cr. ID No. 9510013360 (N) 

STATE OF DELAWARE, § 

 § 

 Plaintiff Below, § 

 Appellee. § 

Submitted: December 27, 2017 

Decided: March 20, 2018 

Before VALIHURA, SEITZ, and TRAYNOR, Justices. 

ORDER 

This 20th day of March 2018, upon consideration of the appellant’s opening 

brief, the appellee’s motion to affirm, and the record on appeal, it appears to the 

Court that: 

(1) The appellant, Desi R. Sykes, filed this appeal from a Superior Court 

order dated October 10, 2017, denying his motion for postconviction relief under 

Superior Court Criminal Rule 61. The State has moved to affirm the Superior 

Court’s judgment on the ground that it is manifest on the face of Sykes’ opening 

brief that the appeal is without merit. We agree and affirm the judgment below on 

the basis of and for the reasons assigned in a Commissioner’s Report and 
2

Recommendation dated September 15, 2017, which was adopted by the Superior 

Court.1

(2) Against the advice of his trial counsel, Sykes pleaded guilty in 1996 to 

attempted intentional murder in the first degree and all other offenses in an 

indictment brought against him for his assault of a correctional officer. The Superior 

Court sentenced Sykes to life in prison without parole and an additional 106 years 

of incarceration and further ordered that the sentence should interrupt a mandatory 

life sentence that Sykes was serving at the time for a murder he committed in 1988 

when he was a juvenile.2

(3) In 2014 and 2016, Sykes filed a motion and an amended motion for 

postconviction relief challenging the validity of his 1996 guilty plea and sentence. 

Postconviction counsel was appointed for Sykes. After reviewing the record, 

counsel moved to withdraw on the basis that he could find no basis upon which to 

collaterally attack the guilty plea and sentence. 

(4) On September 15, 2017, a Superior Court Commissioner issued a report 

recommending that Sykes’ postconviction motion should be denied and that 

 

1

 Commissioner’s Report and Recommendation, State v. Sykes, 2017 WL 4122582 (Del. Super. 

Sept. 15, 2017), adopted by State v. Sykes, Cr. ID No. 9510013360 (Del. Super. Oct. 10, 2017). 

2

 On June 3, 2014, the Superior Court vacated the mandatory life sentence in the juvenile murder 

case and resentenced Sykes, effective October 13, 1988, to thirty years of unsuspended Level V 

incarceration. State v. Sykes, Cr. ID No. 88K02989DI (Del. Super. June 3, 2014). 
3

postconviction counsel’s motion to withdraw should be granted.3 Sykes filed 

objections to the Commissioner’s report and recommendation. After de novo review 

of the record, the Superior Court issued its October 10, 2017 order adopting the 

Commissioner’s report and recommendation and denying the motion for 

postconviction relief. 

(5) Sykes has raised two claims on appeal: first, that the Superior Court 

was without jurisdiction to accept his guilty plea to attempted murder; and second, 

that the court should have accepted his factual assertions that he had a conflict with 

his trial counsel during plea negotiations.4

 Sykes finds support for his first claim in 

Rambo v. State, a 2007 decision where we held that that the Family Court erred when 

it essentially adjudicated Rambo delinquent for attempted felony murder, an 

unrecognized crime in Delaware.5

 The Rambo decision has no bearing in this case. 

Sykes pleaded guilty to attempted intentional murder in the first degree—an offense 

within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court. As for Sykes’ second claim, there were 

no plea negotiations in this case. Against the advice of his trial counsel, Sykes 

pleaded guilty to the charges in the indictment. 

 

3

 The Commissioner considered Sykes’ postconviction motion as amended; his trial counsel’s 

affidavit responding to allegations of ineffective assistance of counsel; the State’s response to the 

claims for postconviction relief; Sykes’ reply to the State’s response; and the motion to withdraw 

filed by Sykes’ postconviction counsel. 

4

 To the extent Sykes has not briefed his other claims for postconviction relief, those claims are 

deemed waived and abandoned on appeal. Murphy v. State, 632 A.2d 1150, 1152 (Del. 1993). 

5

 939 A.2d 1275, 1280-81 (Del. 2007). 
4

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the motion to affirm is 

GRANTED. The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 

 BY THE COURT: 

 /s/ Collins J. Seitz, Jr. 

 Justice