Opinion ID: 1929147
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: supreme court of delaware

Text: Paul E. Weber, Defendant Below, Appellant, vs. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. No. 197, 1981 TO: L. Vincent Ramunno, Esq. 10th & French Streets Wilmington, DE 19801 The Court directs that, you appear before the Supreme Court of Delaware, in the Court Room, on Monday, November 8, 1982 at 12:30 p.m., to show cause why sanctions under Rule 33 should not be imposed against you for your conduct on October 12, 1982. /s/ T.E. Townsend, Jr. Clerk October 26, 1982 Date APPENDIX D IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE - - - Paul E. Weber, Defendant Below, Appellant, v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee. No. 197, 1981 Court Below: Superior Court of The State of Delaware in and For New Castle County Cr. A. Nos. IN81-03-117; 118 - - - November 12, 1982 (corrected) Dover, Delaware 10:00 a.m. - - - BEFORE: JUSTICE JOHN J. McNEILLY JUSTICE HENRY R. HORSEY JUSTICE WILLIAM T. QUILLEN - - - APPEARANCE: L. VINCENT RAMUNNO, ESQ. 10th and French Streets Wilmington, Delaware 19801 Counsel for Defendant Below, Appellant - - - RETURN OF RULE TO SHOW CAUSE November 12, 1982 (corrected) 10:00 a.m. Supreme Court Chambers PRESENT: As noted. - - - JUSTICE McNEILLY: Mr. Ramunno, would you come forward, please? JUSTICE HORSEY: Mr. Ramunno, this is the extended time for the return of the Rule to Show Cause, and you're familiar with the rule. I won't read the rule, but in connection with that rule you wrote a letter to me asking that I disqualify myself because I had discussed the matter with our Chief Deputy Clerk, Mr. Taylor, and because I had asked him to write a synopsis of his telephone conversation with you, which is the basis for this rule having been issued. I decline to recuse myself. I don't think you stated grounds. I was the Motion Justice in October. It was my duty to handle matters, all matters, and matters of this nature. Someone in the court had to do it. I undertook to do it; I don't think I've shown my prejudice by virtue of the fact that I've issued the rule and requested Mr. Taylor to submit memorandum. JUSTICE McNEILLY: It should also be made clear on the record that the rule is not Justice Horsey's rule; it's the Court's rule. MR. RAMUNNO: Very well. JUSTICE McNEILLY: In your letter you referred to the rule as being Justice Horsey's rule, which is not proper. MR. RAMUNNO: I understand. JUSTICE McNEILLY: Now, Mr. Ramunno, this is the morning for the return of the rule. What do you have to say? MR. RAMUNNO: I guess if I could  I have a lot of things to say, I'll try  JUSTICE McNEILLY: It's your time to speak. MR. RAMUNNO: Well, you can rest assured, Your Honor, that I will speak  maybe the best way to start is to tell you what happened factually rather than getting into the legal issues, which I will also get into. The  factually what happened is that whatever day that was, October 12th, we filed our brief in this Weber case, which was a murder case, and a very serious one, of course. And I received a call from Mr. Taylor who told me  that conversation was something like, We have your brief and it violates the rules; it's in excess of the pages required; and by administrative directive of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court it's rejected, and you can either pick it up or we can throw it away. Do you want to pick it up or do you want us to throw it away? And I said something like, Wait a minute, wait a minute, what's going on, wait a minute. And he repeated himself again by going on and saying that it was by directive of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and so forth and so on, and repeated himself. I said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. I said, wait a minute two or three times. And he  JUSTICE McNEILLY: Now, Mr. Ramunno  MR. RAMUNNO: I thought you  JUSTICE McNEILLY:  before you go too extensively into this  MR. RAMUNNO: Yes. JUSTICE McNEILLY:  we're not sitting here this morning as a fact-finding body. MR. RAMUNNO: Well, then what are you sitting as if you're not sitting as a fact-finding  JUSTICE McNEILLY: But what we want to know is what you have to say in response to this rule.