Title: Allison v. State
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 27, 2003
State: Delaware
Issuer: Delaware Supreme Court
Date: May 20, 2003

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE 
 
CHARLES ALLISON, 
 
Defendant Below- 
Appellant, 
 
v. 
 
STATE OF DELAWARE, 
 
Plaintiff Below- 
Appellee. 
§ 
§ 
§  No. 27, 2003 
§ 
§  Court Below—Superior Court 
§  of the State of Delaware, 
§  in and for New Castle County 
§  Cr.A. No. IN02-04-0272 
§  Cr. ID 0203023497 
§ 
§ 
 
 
 
 
 
Submitted: April 3, 2003 
 
 
 
 
  Decided: May 20, 2003 
 
Before VEASEY, Chief Justice, BERGER, and STEELE, Justices. 
 
O R D E R 
 
This 20th day of May 2003, upon consideration of the opening brief 
and the State’s motion to affirm, it appears to the Court that: 
 
(1) 
The defendant-appellant, Charles Allison, pled guilty in May 
2002 to one count of possession of burglar tools.  The Superior Court 
sentenced him to two years at Level V imprisonment, suspended after one 
year for one year of home confinement and probation.  Thereafter, Allison 
filed two motions seeking modification of his sentence, which the Superior 
Court denied on January 3, 2003.  This appeal followed. 
(2) 
Allison filed his opening brief on appeal on April 2, 2003.    
The opening brief does not raise any challenge to the Superior Court’s 
 
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January 3, 2003 order denying Allison’s sentence modification request.  
Instead, the opening brief is limited to argument challenging the Superior 
Court’s apparent dismissal of a petition for postconviction relief.  To the 
extent Allison has failed to raise any argument in his opening brief 
concerning the Superior Court’s January 2003 order, he has waived his right 
to challenge the Superior Court’s judgment.*  Accordingly, the judgment 
must be affirmed. 
(3) 
On April 4, 2003, the day after the State filed its motion to 
affirm, Allison filed a document entitled “Motion for Addendum of Appeal.”  
The motion appears to be Allison’s attempt to amend this appeal to permit 
him to appeal from an order of the Superior Court dated March 19, 2003.  
The Superior Court’s March 2003 order dismissed a petition for 
postconviction relief, which Allison filed in Superior Court after he filed his 
notice of appeal in this Court.  The Superior Court dismissed Allison’s 
petition for postconviction relief on the ground that it lacked jurisdiction to 
rule on the petition while this appeal was pending.  To the extent Allison 
seeks to challenge this dismissal, he has failed to properly perfect an appeal 
from the Superior Court’s judgment.  Allison may re-file his petition for 
                                                 
* See Murphy v. State, 632 A.2d 1150, 1152 (Del. 1993). 
 
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postconviction relief in the Superior Court once the mandate has issued in 
this appeal.    
 
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the 
Superior Court is AFFIRMED. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
BY THE COURT: 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
/s/ Myron T. Steele 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Justice