Court Opinion

ID: 9719572
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:56:21.1901+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:08.267435
License: Public Domain

McNEILLY, Justice,
dissenting:
With all due deference to my brethren and the learned Trial Judge, I respectfully dissent. In my opinion the decision of the Trial Judge is the result of mental gymnastics which took him far beyond the four corners of the record. The Trial Judge found the testimony of the Delaware State Police Officer weak and, on occasion, unbelievable, and the testimony of the witness Reynolds, a co-defendant, whose inculpato-ry statements were suppressed, more accurate, reliable and truthful. But in my opinion, based upon the undisputed evidence, there is insufficient evidence in the record to support Reynolds’ claim of influence, and further, the Trial Judge erred in ruling the promises made to Reynolds “extravagant in the extreme”, the investigatory actions of the police “decidedly improper” and the statements in issue “not . . . freely self determined”. I would reverse.