Title: Watson v. State
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 585, 2006
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: December 15, 2006

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
KEAVNEY L. WATSON,  
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§  No. 585, 2006 
§ 
§ 
§  Court Below─Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware 
§  in and for Sussex County 
§  Cr. ID No. 0407002805 
§ 
§ 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: November 16, 2006 
 
 
 
 
   Decided: December 15, 2006 
 
Before BERGER, JACOBS and RIDGELY, Justices  
 
 
 
 
 
 
O R D E R  
 
 
This 15th day of December 2006, upon consideration of the appellant’s 
opening brief and the appellee’s motion to affirm pursuant to Supreme Court 
Rule 25(a), it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, Keavney L. Watson, filed an appeal 
from the Superior Court’s October 20, 2006 order denying his third motion 
for correction of illegal sentence pursuant to Superior Court Criminal Rule 
35(a).  The plaintiff-appellee, the State of Delaware, has moved to affirm the 
Superior Court’s judgment on the ground that it is manifest on the face of 
the opening brief that the appeal is without merit.  We agree and AFFIRM. 
 
2
 
(2) 
In November 2005, Watson pleaded guilty to the charges of 
Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and Noncompliance with Conditions 
of Bond.  On the first conviction, Watson was sentenced to 1 year of Level 
V incarceration, to be suspended for 1 year of Level III probation.  On the 
second conviction, he was sentenced to 1 year of Level V incarceration, to 
be suspended for 1 year of concurrent Level III probation.   
 
(3) 
Three months later, in February 2006, Watson was found to 
have committed a violation of probation (“VOP”) and was sentenced to 1 
year of Level V incarceration on each of his convictions without any 
subsequent periods of probation.  The Superior Court later corrected its VOP 
sentencing order to provide for a sentence of 205 days of Level V 
incarceration on the conviction of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and a 
6-month period of Level IV probation on the conviction of noncompliance 
with conditions of bond. 
 
(4) 
In this appeal, Watson claims that the corrected VOP sentence 
on this latter conviction is illegal because the Superior Court did not 
originally sentence him to the additional 6-month probationary period. 
 
(5) 
Rule 35(a) permits the Superior Court to correct an illegal 
sentence “at any time.”  Relief under Rule 35(a) is available when the 
sentence imposed exceeds the statutorily authorized limits, violates double 
 
3
jeopardy, is ambiguous with respect to the time and manner in which it is to 
be served, is internally contradictory, omits a term required to be imposed by 
statute, is uncertain as to its substance, or is a sentence that the judgment of 
conviction did not authorize.1 
 
(6) 
Delaware law also provides that, whenever the Superior Court 
imposes a sentence of Level V incarceration for one or more offenses that 
totals 1 year or more, it must include as part of that sentence custodial 
supervision at Level IV, III or II for a period of not less than 6 months “to 
facilitate the transition of the individual back into society.”2  As such, the 
Superior Court properly corrected its VOP sentencing order to provide for 
the statutorily mandated 6-month period of probation.  Watson has, 
therefore, failed to demonstrate that he is entitled to relief pursuant to Rule 
35(a). 
 
(7) 
It is manifest on the face of Watson’s opening brief that the 
appeal is without merit because the issues presented on appeal are controlled 
by settled Delaware law and, to the extent that judicial discretion is 
implicated, there was no abuse of discretion. 
                                                 
1 Brittingham v. State, 705 A.2d 577, 578 (Del. 1998). 
2 Del. Code Ann. tit. 11, §4204(l). 
 
4
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Supreme 
Court Rule 25(a), the State of Delaware’s motion to affirm is GRANTED.  
The judgment of the Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Jack B. Jacobs 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice