Opinion ID: 2809833
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Brown’s Direct Appeal

Text: Brown appealed his convictions directly to this Court. In that appeal, Brown raised three claims: (1) that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the evidence obtained as a result of the traffic stop; (2) that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting into evidence telephone calls that had been intercepted by the court-ordered wiretap; and (3) that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting cocaine into evidence when the State failed to establish an adequate chain of custody. At oral argument, defense counsel informed the Court for the first time that the OCME courier who handled the cocaine seized from Brown, James Woodson, had been indicted and arrested on suspicion of improperly handling evidence. In light of his 19 Id. at 178. 7 argument before the trial court and on appeal that there were discrepancies between the weight and type of cocaine reported by the packaging officer at the police station and by the Medical Examiner, Brown contended that the possibility that Woodson had tampered with the cocaine seized from Brown at least warranted a remand to the Superior Court to re-evaluate his arguments about the chain of custody. In response, this Court requested that counsel supplement the record to formally provide us with information about Woodson‟s indictment. The State complied by submitting a copy of the indictment, which alleged, among other counts, that Woodson had engaged in trafficking in cocaine, tampering with physical evidence, and official misconduct. At that point, only two OCME employees, Woodson and chemist Farnum Daneshgar,20 had been accused of any misconduct.21 On June 9, 2014, this Court issued an order staying Brown‟s appeal and remanding the case to the Superior Court to permit Brown to file a motion for a new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence.22 We ordered the Superior Court to issue periodic progress reports and retained jurisdiction. 20 Daneshgar was not involved in testing the evidence seized from Brown. 21 The Court takes judicial notice that James Woodson pled guilty on May 18, 2015, to official misconduct and providing criminal history record information to an unauthorized person. Farnam Daneshgar was tried by a jury on charges of possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The State dismissed those charges on May 1, 2015, after the jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict. 22 We also ordered the Superior Court to correct errors in Browns‟ conviction and sentence that the State identified before oral argument. See Brown v. State, No. 603, 2013 (Del. June 9, 2014) (order). 8