Opinion ID: 2307471
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Blackwell was indicted in October 1997 and charged with Delivery of Cocaine, [3] Possession With Intent to Deliver Cocaine, [4] Possession of Cocaine within 300 feet of a Recreation Park, [5] and Resisting Arrest. [6] Blackwell's jury trial began in the Superior Court on January 12, 1999. On the second day of trial, after both the State and the defense had rested, but before the jury was discharged, Blackwell pled guilty to one count in the indictment, Delivery of Cocaine. Blackwell was sentenced to thirty years imprisonment, suspended after serving a fifteen-year minimum mandatory sentence of incarceration at Level V. If Blackwell had been convicted on all four charges, [7] he faced a minimum mandatory sentence of thirty years, and a potential sentence exceeding 200 years, because he had a prior conviction on his record for Possession With Intent to Deliver. In exchange for Blackwell's guilty plea, the State entered a nolle prosequi as to the remaining three charges. Blackwell was sentenced on January 13, 1999. Blackwell did not file a direct appeal within thirty days of being sentenced. [8] On February 8, 1999, however, Blackwell filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, alleging generally that he did not understand the plea agreement at the time he entered it. This Court's opinion in Barkley [9] was issued on February 19, 1999. The Superior Court denied Blackwell's motion to withdraw his guilty plea on February 22, 1999.